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JERUSALEM, 

THE 

CITY  OF  HEROD  AND  SALADIN. 


JERUSALEM, 


CITY   OF   HEROD   AND    SALADIN. 


BY 

WALTER     BESANT, 

AND 

E.    H.    PALMER, 

LATE    LORD    ALMONER'S    PROFESSOR   OF    ARABIC    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY   OF    CAMBRIDGE. 


NEW  EDITION. 


NEW  YORK : 
SCRIBNER     AND     WELFORD. 

1889. 

[  The  right  of  translation  is  reserved.] 


\ 


3V 

I  o 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  EDITION. 

The  preparation  of  a  new  edition  of  this  book  is  like 
the  opening  of  a  chapter  in  one's  life  that  had  been 
long  closed.  It  was  written  in  the  years  1870  and  1871, 
now  nineteen  years  ago.  At  that  time,  as  it  now  seems 
to  me,  the  days  must  have  been  a  great  deal  longer,  so 
that  one  could  do  much  more  work ;  also,  one  had  much 
less  work  to  do,  and  there  was  time  for  talk  and  play. 
But  the  compilation  of  this  history  was  to  both  its 
authors  a  true  labour  of  love.  Professor  Palmer,  as 
yet  little  known  outside  Cambridge,  was  fresh  from  his 
journey  across  the  Desert  of  the  Wanderings,  and  full 
of  enthusiasm  for  the  subject.  I  myself,  as  yet  feeling 
my  way  in  other  lines,  was  then  one  of  those  whom  the 
vexed  questions  of  the  Holy  City  and  its  topography 
still  held  enchained.  They  are  questions  which  are 
always  being  taken  up  by  one  enthusiast  after  another; 
they  seem  continually  to  be  on  the  point  of  solution, 
and  yet  they  never  are  solved  ;  so  that  there  are  some 
who  believe  that  they  are  destined  never  to  be  solved. 
Still,  the  attempt  to  prove  where  were  the  Tombs  of 
the  Kings,  where  was  Constantine's  Holy  Sepulchre, 
where  may  be  found  the  true  site  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 


viii  PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  EDITION. 

where  was  the  site  of  the  Temple,  and  what  was  believed 
concerning  these  sites  by  Christian  and  by  Moslem, 
has  led  to  the  study  of  a  great  mass  of  literature  which 
might  otherwise  have  been  neglected,  but  which  throws 
an  immense  light  upon  manners  and  customs  ancient 
and  mediaeval.  It  was  out  of  this  kind  of  reading, 
miscellaneous  rather  than  methodical,  that  this  book 
came  into  existence.  Palmer  contributed,  for  his  share, 
and  from  his  reading  in  Arabic  and  Persian  historians 
and  geographers,  the  chapters  which  deal  with  the 
Mohammedan  views  of  the  City's  history.  These 
views,  when  this  book  was  first  issued,  had  never  before 
been  presented  in  English  form.  He  also  wrote,  from 
his  own  observation  and  notes,  a  chapter  descriptive  of 
'Modern  Jerusalem,'  which  I  have  suppressed,  because 
so  many  changes  have  happened  in  the  City  since  the 
year  1870  that  his  account  can  be  considered  no  longer 
faithful. 

Many  things  have  been  discovered,  besides,  since 
we  first  wrote  this  book.  Thanks  to  the  labours  of 
Conder,  Ganneau,  Schick  and  others,  we  now  know, 
with  as  much  certainty  as  can  be  expected,  the  exact 
site  of  the  Pool  of  Bethesda  :  we  have  found  a  portion 
of  the  Second  Wall — but,  alas  !  the  rest  of  it  eludes 
our  search  :  it  has  been  proved  that  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  covers  very  ancient  tombs :  the  name 
of  Sion  has  been  discovered  in  the  Wady  Sahyun,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  city:  the  true  Hill  of  Golgotha  has 
been  discovered :  the  rock-levels,  first  laid  down  by  Sir 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  EDITION. 


Charles  Wilson,  have  been  greatly  increased  in  number: 
the  south  course  of  the  First  Wall  has  been  traced  :  the 
famous  inscription  of  the  Pool  of  Siloam  has  estab- 
lished the  antiquity  of  the  well-known  tunnel.  Many 
other  things  have  been  found,  all  of  which,  to  my  mind, 
tend  to  prove  the  soundness  of  the  views  which  we 
put  forward  in  the  Appendix  to  the  First  Edition — 
views  which  are  also,  in  the  main,  held  by  Warren  and 
Conder.  Briefly  they  are  :  That  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  stands  upon  the  site  chosen  for  Con- 
stantine  by  people  who  then  knew  no  more  on  the 
subject  than  we  know  at  the  present  day  :  That  the 
real  site  of  the  Sepulchre  is  near  that  of  the 
Place  of  Stoning,  north  of  the  city :  That  the 
Temple  of  Herod  stood  within  the  present  Haram 
Wall,  which  then  contained  no  other  building :  That 
the  Dome  of  the  Rock. was  as  certainly  and  as  truly 
built  by  Abdel  Melek  as  St.  Paul's  by  Christopher 
Wren.  It  would  be  a  great  joy  to  some  could  it  be 
proved  that  the  Second  Wall  runs  outside  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  because  the  discovery  would 
absolutely  necessitate  the  downfall  of  a  mass  of  super- 
stition the  like  of  which  the  world  has  never  seen. 
But  the  years  pass,  and  the  course  of  the  Second  Wall 
still  refuses  to  be  found. 

I  have  only  to  add  that  I  have  not  ventured  to  make 
any  alteration  in  Palmer's  work,  and  that  I  have  made 
very  little  alteration  in  my  own.  I  do  not  think  there 
are  many  historical  errors.    There  are  one  or  two  com- 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NEW  EDITION. 


paratively  unimportant  contradictions,  but  on  the  whole 
the  Mohammedan  and  the  Christian  authorities  agree 
together  wonderfully  well.  The  testimonies  of  the 
former  as  to  the  building  of  the  Dome  of  the  Rock 
have,  since  the  writing  of  this  book,  been  collected 
and  translated  by  Mr.  Guy  le  Strange,  and  published 
in  the  Journal  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 
This  chain  of  evidence  will  also  form  part  of  a  larger 
work  on  which  that  admirable  scholar  is  at  present  | 
engaged. 

It  would  have  been  a  great  happiness  to  my  lamented 
friend,  had  he  been  living,  to  have  assisted  in  the  pre- 
paration of  this  new  edition  of  a  work  into  which  he 
threw  so  much   of   his  learning  and  so  much  of  his  I 
time. 

W.  B. 

United  University  Club, 
September,  1888. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

Very  few  words  are  needed  to  introduce  this  volume. 
It  is  intended  to  give  a  history  of  the  City  of  Jerusalem 
from  about  the  year  30  to  the  present  time.  This 
,  period  includes  the  siege  and  capture  by  Titus,  the  last 
revolts  of  the  Jews,  the  Christian  occupation  of  three 
hundred  years,  the  Mohammedan  conquest,  the  build- 
ing by  the  Mohammedans  of  the  Dome  of  the  Rock, 
the  Crusades,  the  Christian  kingdom,  the  reconquest 
of  the  city,  and  a  long  period  of  Mohammedan  occu- 
pation, during  which  no  event  has  happened  except 
the  yearly  flocking  of  pilgrims  to  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre,  and  an  occasional  quarrel  among  the 
monks. 

There  are  here,  surely,  sufficient  materials  for  the 
historian,  if  only  he  knows  how  to  use  them. 

For  the  modern  period,  that  of  the  Christian  king- 
dom, two  sources  of  information  exist — one,  the  con- 
temporary and  later  chronicles  of  the  Crusaders, 
written  either  in  Latin  or  Langue  d'Oil ;  and  the 
other  the  Arabic  historians  themselves.  I  have  written 
my  own  part  of  the  book  from  the  former ;  to  my 
colleague  is  due  all  that  part  (the  Mohammedan  con- 
quest, the  chapter  on  Saladin,  etc.)  which  has  been 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


taken  from  Arabic  writers.  Most  of  this  has  the  great 
advantage  of  being  entirely  new,  and  now  for  the  first 
time  introduced  to  English  readers.  For  my  own 
share  in  the  work  I  claim  no  other  novelty  than  thelj 
presentation  of  facts  as  faithfully  as  I  could  gather 
them,  at  first  hand,  and  from  the  earliest  writers. 

There  is  nothing  sacred  about  the  actors  in  this  long 
story  we  have  to  tell,  and  we  have  not  thought  it 
necessary  to  endeavour  to  invest  them,  as  is  generally 
done  by  those  who  write  on  Jerusalem,  with  an  appear 
ance  of  sanctity  because  they  fought  for  the  City  oi 
Sacred  Memories,  or  because  they  bore  the  Cross  upon 
their  shoulders.  We  have,  on  the  other  hand,  endea- 
voured to  show  them  as  they  were — men  and  women 
actuated  by  mixed  motives,  sometimes  base,  sometimes 
noble,  sometimes  interested,  sometimes  pure  and  lofty,j 
but  always  men  and  women,  never  saints.  The  Chris- 
tians in  the  East  were  as  the  Christians  in  the  West, 
certainly  never  better,  more  often  worse.  If  we  have 
succeeded  in  making  a  plain  tale,  divested  of  it 
customary  pseudo-religious  trappings,  interesting  and 
useful,  our  design  is  accomplished. 

One  word  more.  There  may  be  found,  owing  to  thej 
double  source  from  which  our  pages  are  derived,  cer 
tain  small  discrepancies  in  the  narrative.  We  hav 
not  cared  to  try  and  reconcile  these.  Let  it  be  remem 
bered  that  the  one  narrative  is  Christian,  the  othe 
Mohammedan. 

W.  B. 

October,  1871. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

NTRODUCTORY  -------         i 

CHAPTER  II. 

?he  Siege  of  Jerusalem    r  -  -  -  -21 

CHAPTER  III. 
^rom  Titus  to  Omar  -  -  -  -  -     52 

CHAPTER  IV. 
rHE  Mohammedan  Conquest  -  -  -  -73 

CHAPTER  V. 
rHE  Christian  Pilgrims      -  -  -  -  -  123 

CHAPTER  VI. 

11 

f"HE  First  Crusade   -  -  -  -  -  -  155 

CHAPTER  VII. 
he  Christian  Kingdom. — King  Godfrey  -  -  210 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
ing  Baldwin  I.  -  -  -  -  -  234 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Ling  Baldwin  II.  -  -  -  -  262 

I 


xiv  CONTENTS.  j 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE. 

King  Fulke     -------  287, 

CHAPTER  XI.. 
King  Baldwin  III.  and  the  Second  Great  Crusade  -  298I 

CHAPTER  XII. 

King  Amaury  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  332 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
King  Baldwin  the  Leper    -  -  -  -  -373 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
King  Guy  de  Lusignan        -  -  -  -  -  383 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  and  the  Third  Crusade       -  404 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Saladin  -------  416 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Mohammedan  Pilgrims  -  -  -  -  466 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  Chronicle  of  Six  Hundred  Years  -  -  -  495 

Index    -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  522 


JERUSALEM. 


THE  CITY  OF  HEROD  AND  SALADIN 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

It  is  our  object  to  write  a  book  which  may  serve  as 
an  historical  account,  complete  so  far  as  it  goes,  of  the 
principal  events  with  which  Jerusalem  is  concerned, 
from  the  time  when  its  history,  as  connected  with  the 
Bible,  ceases,  till  the  present ;  that  is  to  say,  from  the 
year  a.d.  33  downwards.  But  it  is  difficult  to  take  up 
the  thread  of  the  story  at  this  date,  and  we  are  forced 
either  to  go  as  far  back  as  Herod  the  Great,  or  to  begin 
our  narrative  with  the  events  which  preceded  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem  by  Titus.  No  date  seems  to  us  more 
ready  to  our  hand  than  that  of  the  death  of  Herod 
Agrippa.  Even  then  we  may  seem  beginning  to  tell  a 
thrice-told  tale.  The  revolt  of  the  Jews,  their  defeat  of 
Cestius,  the  siege  of  Titus,  are  surely,  it  may  be  objected, 
too  well  known  to  require  telling  again.  They  are  not 
well  known,  though  they  have  been  told  again  and  again. 
But  they  are  told  here  again  because  our  central  figure  is 

1 


JERUSALEM. 


Jerusalem.  We  have  to  show  her  first,  in  all  her  pride, 
the  joy  of  the  Jews,  the  visible  mark  of  their  greatness ; 
and  then  we  have  to  follow  her  through  two  thousand 
years  of  varying  fortune,  always  before  the  eyes  of  the 
world — always  the  object  of  tender  pity  and  reverence 
— always  the  centre  of  some  conflict,  the  scene  of  some 
religious  contention.  Frequent  as  were  the  sieges  of 
the  city  in  the  olden  days,  they  have  been  more  fre- 
quent since.  Titus  took  Jerusalem,  Barcochebas  took 
it,  Julius  Severus  took  it,  Chosroes,  Heraclius,  Omar, 
the  Charezmians,  Godfrey,  Saladin,  Frederick,  all  took 
it  by  turns — all  after  hard  fighting,  and  with  much 
slaughter. 

There  is  not  a  stone  in  the  city  but  has  been 
reddened  with  human  blood ;  not  a  spot  but  where 
some  hand-to-hand  conflict  has  taken  place  :  not  an 
old  wall  but  has  echoed  back  the  shrieks  of  despairing 
women.  Jew,  Pagan,  Christian,  Mohammedan,  each 
has  had  his  turn  of  triumph,  occupation,  and  defeat  ; 
and  were  all  those  ancient  cemeteries  outside  the  city 
emptied  of  their  bones,  it  would  be  hard  to  tell  whether 
Jew,  or  Pagan,  or  Christian,  or  Mohammedan  would 
prevail.  For  Jerusalem  has  been  the  representative 
sacred  place  of  the  world  ;  there  has  been  none  other 
like  unto  it,  or  equal  to  it,  or  shall  be,  while  the  world 
lasts  ;  so  long  as  men  go  on  believing  that  one  spot  in 
the  world  is  more  sacred  than  another,  because  things 
of  sacred  interest  have  been  done  there,  so  long  Jeru 
salem  will  continue  the  Holy  City.  That  this  beliei 
has  been  one  of  the  misfortunes  of  the  human  race,: 
one  of  the  foremost  causes  of  superstition,  some  o 
the  pages  which  follow  may  perhaps  help  to  show 
But,  in  our  capacity  as  narrators  only,  let  us  agree  t 
think  and  talk  of  the  city  apart,  as  much  as  may  bei 


JUDAS  THE  GALILEAN. 


from  its  sacred  associations,  as  well  as  from  its  ecclesi- 
astical history. 

The  fatal  revolt  of  the  Jews,  which  ended  in  the  fall 
of  their  city  and  th^~o^esTnIcfion  of  theirjemplej  was 
due,  among  manyother  causes,  to  the  teaching  of 
Judas  the  Galilaeanacting^on  mm^snnflaterf  with  pride 
in  the  exaggeratedglories  ot  the^astT^'tooking  to  * 
nationaT^Th^epeil^eTicT^^trre^one  tlrirrg~-needful,  and  ) 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  power  and  resources  of  the  ) 
mighty  empire  which  held  them  in  subjection.  Judas,  ^ 
himself  in  spirit  a  worthy  descendant  of  the  Macca- 
bseans,  had  taught  that  Jehovah  was  the  only  king  of 
the  Jews,  who  were  His  chosen  people  ;  that  submission 
to  a  foreign  yoke  involved  not  only  national  degrada- 
tion, but  treason  to  the  lawful  powers ;  that  tribute, 
the  badge  and  sign  of  slavery,  ought  to  be  refused 
at  any  cost.  *  We  have  no  Lord  and  master  but 
God,'  was  the  cry  of  his  party.  With  that  cry  he  and 
his  followers  assembled  to  do  battle  against  the  world  : 
with  that  cry  on  their  lips  they  died.  But  the  cry  and 
its  idea  did  not  die  ;  for  from  that  time  a  fourth  sect 
was  among  the  Jews,  more  powerful  than  all  the  rest 
put  together,  containing  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
who  had  no  education  to  give  them  common  sense,  and 
whose  ignorance  added  fuel  to  the  flames  of  a  religious 
enthusiasm  almost  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  still  con- 
tinued for  a  time  in  the  high  places  :  the  Essenes  still 
lived  and  died  apart  from  the  world,  the  Shakers  of 
their  time,  a  small  band  with  no  power  or  influence  ; 
but  all  around  them  was  rising  a  tide  destined  to  whelm 
all  beneath  the  waves  of  fanaticism.  The  followers  of 
Judas  became  the  Zealots  and  the  Sicarii  of  later  times: 
they  were  those  who  looked    daily  for  the   Messiah ; 

I — 2 


JERUSALEM. 


whom   false    Christs   led  astray   by   thousands;    who 

thought  no  act  too   daring   to   be  attempted  in   tins  \ 

.acred  cause,  no  life  too  valuable  to  be  sacrificed  i  they  t 

were  those  who  let  their  countrymen  die  of  starvation  j 

by  thousands  while  they  maintained  a  hopeless  struggle  U 

with  Titus.  , 

When  Herod  Agrippa  died,  his  son,  who  was  only 
seventeen  vears  of  age,  was  in  Rome  ;  and,  as  he  was 
too  young  to  be   entrusted  with  the  conduct  01    the 
turbulent  province  of  Juda.a,  Cuspius  Fadus  was  sent 
there  as  Governor.    He  found  that  Agrippa  had  allowed 
the  robbers  who  always  infested  the  country  east  of 
Jordan  to  gain  head.     He  put  them  down  with  a  strong 
arm,  and  turned  his  attention  to  things  of  domestic 
importance.    By  the  permission  of  Vitellines,  the  custody 
of  the  sacred  robes  had  been  surrendered  to  the  High 
Priest      Cuspius   Fadus  ordered  that  they  should  be 
restored  to  the   fortress  of   Antonia.      The  Jews  ap- 
pealed to  Caesar,  and,  by  the  intercession  of  young 
Agrippa,  they  carried  their   point,    and   retained  the 
possession  of  the  robes.     Under  Fadus   one  Thendas 
whom  Josephus  calls  a  magician,  persuaded  muhnudes 
of  the  Jews  to  go  with  him  to  the  Jordan,  which  he 
pretended   would    open   its   waters   to   let   him    pass. 
Cuspius  Fadus  sent  out  a  troop  of  cavalry,  who  tool 
Theudas   alive,   cut   off   his  head,  and  brought  it   t 
Terusalem.      Under    Cuspius,  too,    occurred   a   grea 
famine  in  Judsa,  which  was  relieved  by  the  generosit 
of  Queen  Helena  of  Adiabene,  the  proselyte 

When  Fadus  either  died  or  was  recalled,  Tibern 
Alexander,  a  renegade  Jew,  nephew  of  Philo,  succeeds 

*  The  story  of  Queen  Helena  is  told  by  Josephus,  '  Annq.^ 
2   3, 4,  and  in  Milman, '  Hist,  of  the  Jews,  n.,  P.  20c .,  and  see  a 
for  the  whole  of  this  period,  Williams's  '  Holy  C.ty,  vol.  ..,  p. 
et  seq. 


CUMANUS.  5 


him  for  a  short  time.  It  is  not  stated  how  long  he 
continued  in  power.  His  only  recorded  act  is  the 
crucifixion  of  two  of  the  sons  of  Judas  the  Galilaean. 
In  his  turn  Tiberius  was  replaced  by  Ventidius  Cumanus, 
and  the  first  symptoms  of  the  approaching  madness 
broke  out.  The  fortress  of  Antonia  commanded  the 
Temple  area,  and  communicated  with  the  Temple 
itself  by  means  of  cloisters.  On  those  days  of  public 
festivals  when  the  fanaticism  of  the  people  was  most 
likely  to  break  out  and  cause  mischief,  a  strong  guard 
was  always  placed  in  Antonia,  in  full  view  of  the  people, 
to  overawe  them  into  good  behaviour.  Most  unfor- 
tunately, on  one  occasion,  immediately  after  the  arrival 
of  Cumanus,  one  of  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  expressed 
his  contempt  for  the  religious  ceremonies  by  an  indecent 
gesture.  The  rage  of  the  people  knew  no  bounds  ; 
they  declared  that  Cumanus  had  himself  ordered  the 
affront  to  be  committed.  The  governor  bore  their 
reproaches  with  patience,  only  urging  them  not  to 
disturb  their  festival  by  riotous  conduct.  As,  however, 
they  still  continued  clamouring,  he  ordered  his  whole 
garrison  to  proceed  to  Antonia.  Then  a  panic  ensued. 
The  mob,  thinking  they  were  about  to  be  attacked  by 
the  soldiers,  turned  and  fled,  trampling  on  each  other 
in  the  narrow  passages.  Many  thousands  perished  in 
this  way,  without  a  blow  being  struck.  And  while  they 
were  still  mourning  over  this  disaster,  another  happened 
to  them.  Some  of  the  very  men  who  had  raised  the 
first  tumult,  probably  countrymen  on  their  way  home, 
1  uell  on  and  robbed  Stephanus,  a  slave  of  the  Emperor. 
M3umanus,  obliged  to  punish  this,  sent  soldiers  to  bring 
'4n  the  chief  men  of  the  village.  One  of  the  soldiers 
1;ore  up  a  book  of  the  Law  with  abuse  and  scurrility, 
lie   Jews   came  to   Cumanus,  and    represented   that 


it\ 


JERUSALEM. 


they  could  not  possibly  endure  such  an  insult  to 
their  God.  Cumanus  appeased  them  for  the  time 
by  beheading  the  soldier  who  had  been  guilt)7  of  the 
offence. 

The  animosities  of  the  Samaritans  and  the  Jews 
were  the  cause  of  the  next  disturbance.  The  Galilaeans 
always  used  the  roads  which  passed  through  the  Sama- 
ritan territory  in  their  journeys  to  and  from  the  Temple. 
Faction  fights  naturally  often  took  place.  In  one  of 
these,  of  greater  magnitude  than  the  generality,  a  good 
many  Galilseans  were  killed :  the  Jews  came  to  Cumanus 
and  complained  of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call 
murder.  Cumanus  took  the  part  of  the  Samaritans, 
and  actually  went  to  their  aid,  after  the  Jews  called  in 
the  assistance  of  a  robber  chieftain,  and  helped  them 
to  defeat  the  Galilseans.  It  is  difficult  to  see  what 
else  they  could  do.  Both  parties  appealed  to  Caesar. 
Cumanus  was  recalled  :  his  military  tribune  was  be- 
headed, decision  was  given  in  favour  of  the  Jews  :  all  I 
this,  no  doubt,  was  done  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  I 
dangerous  and  the  turbulent  nature  of  the  people,  and  \ 
with  a  view  to  preserving  the  peace. 

Claudius  Felix  was  sent  in  place  of  Cumanus,  a 
freedman,  brother  of  Pallas  the  favourite  of  the 
Emperor — magnificent,  prodigal,  luxurious,  and  un- 
scrupulous. He  found  the  country  in  the  worst  state 
possible,  full  of  robbers  and  impostors.  These  sprung 
up  every  day,  and  were  every  day  caught  and  destroyed ;  k 
no  doubt  most  of  them  men  whose  wits  were  utterly  [ 
gone  in  looking  for  the  Messiah,  until  they  ended  in 
believing  themselves  to  be  the  Messiah.  These  poor 
creatures,  followed  by  a  rabble  more  ignorant  and 
more  mad  than  themselves,  went  up  and  down  the 
distracted  country,  raising  hopes  which  were  doomed 


tf 


CLA  UDIUS  FELIX. 


to  disappointment,  and  leading  out  the  wild  country- 
men to  meet  death  and  torture  when  they  looked  for 
glory  and  victory.  One  of  the  impostors,  an  Egyptian, 
probably  an  Egyptian  Jew,  brought  a  multitude  up  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  promising  that  at  his  word  the 
walls  of  the  city  should  fall  down,  and  they  themselves 
march  in  triumphant.  He  came ;  but  instead  of  see- 
ing the  walls  fall  down,  he  met  the  troops  of  Felix,  who 
dispersed  his  people,  slaying  four  hundred  of  them. 

To  Felix  belongs  the  crime  of  introducing  the  Sicarii 
into  the  city  of  Jerusalem.     Wearied  with  the  impor- 
tunities of  the  high  priest,   Jonathan,  who    exhorted 
him  continually  to  govern  better,  or  at  all   events  to 
govern  differently,  and  reproached   him  with  the  fact 
hat  it  was  through  his  own  influence  that  Felix  ob- 
ained  his  office,  he  resolved  to  rid  himself  of  a  friend 
o  troublesome    by  the  speediest  and   surest  method, 
iat  of  assassination.     The  Sicarii  were  not,  like  the 
jired   bravoes  of  the    Middle   Ages,   men  who  would 
]|>mmit    any   murder   for   which   they  were  paid.     It 
•pears,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  held  it  a  cardinal 
ant  of  faith  to  murder  those,  and  only  those,  who 
2med  to  stand  in  the  way  of  their  cause.     Now  their 
ise  was  that   of  the  sect  which  had  grown  out  of 
ias's  teaching,  the  zealots.     These  Sicarii,  mingling 
.h  the  crowd  of  those  who  went  up  to  worship,  and 
I;  tying  daggers  concealed  under  their  garments,  fell 
v  n  Jonathan   the   high  priest,  and  murdered  him* 
n  s  done,  they  went  on  slaying   all  those  who  were 
*  oxious  to  them,  even  in  the  Temple  itself.     <  And 
id   '  says  the  historian,  '  seems  to  me  the  reason  whv 

i  fr  from  fhyS  ^^  ^  W?t  in  Vhe  TemPle  itseIf<  which  d°es  not 
Ihev TJ  tLaCvf °T  0f  J°sePh"s,  who  expressly  says  that,  after 
hey  had  the  boldness  to  murder  men  in  the  Temple  itself. 


JERUSALEM. 


God,  out  of  His  hatred  to  the  wickedness  of  these  men, 
rejected  our  city:  and  as  for  the  Temple,  He  no  longer 
esteemed  it  sufficiently  pure  for  Him  to  inhabit  therein, 
but  brought  the  Romans  upon  us,  and  threw  a  fire 
upon  the  city  to  purge  it ;  and  brought  upon  us,  our 
wives  and  children,  slavery — as  desirous  to  make  us 
wiser  by  our  calamities.'  And  now  the  voice  of  discord 
was  heard  even  among  the  priests  themselves,  who  had 
hitherto  preserved  a  certain  sobriety.  Between  the 
chief  priests  and  '  the  principal  men  of  the  multitude 
of  Jerusalem,'  a  feud  broke  out.  Each  side  had  its 
followers  :  they  cast,  we  are  told,  not  only  reproachful 
words,  but  also  stones  at  each  other.  And  the  chief 
priests,  robbing  the  threshing-floors  and  appropriating 
all  the  tithes  to  themselves,  caused  many  of  the  poorer 
priests  to  die  of  want. 

Then  occurred  the  first  outbreak  in  Caesarea.  This 
town  was  about  equally  divided  between  the  Syrians 
and  the  Jews ;  the  former  claimed  the  pre-eminence 
on  the  ground  that  Herod,  the  founder,  though  himself 
a  Jew,  had  built  the  splendid  temples  and  statues  by 
which  the  city  was  evidently  intended  to  be  a  Grecian 
city,  upon  the  site  of  Strato's  Tower ;  while  the  Jews 
argued  that  as  the  founder  was  a  Jew,  the  city  was 
evidently  Jewish,  and  ought  not  to  be  ruled  except  by 
Jews.  The  dispute,  as  was  always  the  case,  came  to 
the  arbitrament  of  arms,  in  which  the  Jews  got  the 
best  of  it.  Then  Felix  came  himself,  with  a  strong 
force,  and  brought  them  to  their  senses.  But  as  the 
dispute  still  went  on,  he  sent  representatives  on  both 
sides  to  Nero  the  Emperor,  who  ruled  in  favour  of  the 
Greeks  or  Syrians.  Here,  the  decision  of  the  Emperor 
appears  to  have  been  just.  Herod,  the  founder  of 
Caesarea,  had  clearly  not  intended  to  found  a  city  for 


OUTBREAK  AT  C/ESAREA. 


the  further  propagation  of  a  sect  to  which  he  indeed 
belonged,  regarding  it,  nevertheless,  with  the  toleration 
of  a  cultivated  Roman,  as  only  one  sect  out  of  many. 
The  Jews  accepted  the  decision  in  their  usual  way  : 
they  only  became  more  turbulent.  Agrippa's  own 
dispute  with  his  own  countrymen  was  decided,  how- 
ever, in  their  favour,  no  doubt  from  politic  considera- 
tions. He  had  built  an  upper  room  in  his  palace, 
where,  lying  on  his  couch,  he  could  look  over  into  the 
Temple  and  watch  the  sacrifices.  Some  of  the  priests, 
discovering  this,  made  out  that  it  was  an  intrusion 
into  the  necessary  privacy  of  their  religious  ceremonies, 
and  hastily  ran  up  a  wall  to  prevent  being  overlooked. 
Festus,  who  had  now  succeeded  Felix,  ordered  it  to  be 
pulled  down  ;  but,  most  probably  at  the  instigation  of 
Agrippa,  whose  popularity  might  be  at  stake,  he  gave 
permission  to  appeal  to  Nero.  Ismael,  the  high  priest, 
went,  accompanied  by  the  keeper  of  the  Treasury. 
They  carried  their  point :  the  wall  was  allowed  to 
stand,  but  Ismael  was  detained  in  Rome,  and  Agrippa 
appointed  and  deprived  three  high  priests  in  succession 
— Joseph,  Annas,  and  Jesus  son  of  Damai.  The  firm, 
strong  hand  of  Festus  was  meantime  employed  in 
putting  down  robbers,  and  regulating  the  disturbances 
of  the  country.  Unhappily  for  the  Jews,  while  he  was 
so  engaged,  he  was  seized  with  some  illness  and  died. 
Albinus  succeeded  him.  As  for  Albinus,  Josephus  tells 
us  that  there  was  no  sort  of  wickedness  named  but  he 
had  a  hand  in  it.  '  Not  only  did  he  steal  and  plunder 
everyone's  substance,  not  only  did  he  burden  the 
whole  nation  with  taxes,  but  he  permitted  the  relations 
}f  such  as  were  in  prison  for  robbery  to  redeem  them 
or  money  ;  and  nobody  remained  in  the  prisons  as  a 
nalefactor  but  he  who  gave  him  nothing The 


io  JERUSALEM. 


principal  men  among  the  seditious  purchased  leave  of 
Albinus  to  go  on  with  their  practices  :  and  everyone  of 
these  wretches  was  encompassed  with  his  own  band  of 
robbers.  Those  who  lost  their  goods  were  forced  to 
hold  their  peace,  when  they  had  reason  to  show  great 
indignation  at  what  they  had  suffered  ;  those  who  had 
escaped  were  forced  to  flatter  him,  that  deserved  to  be 
punished,  out  of  the  fear  they  were  in  of  suffering 
equally  with  the  others.' 

This,  however,  is  a  vague  accusation,  and  is  found  in 
the  '  Wars  of  the  Jews,'  where  Josephus  is  anxious  to 
represent  the  revolt  of  the  people  as  caused  by  the  bad 
government  of  the  Romans.  From  the  'Antiquities' 
we  learn  that  it  was  Albinus's  wish  to  keep  the  country 
in  peace,  with  which  object  he  destroyed  many  of  the 
Sicarii.  Unfortunately  for  himself,  he  formed  a  great 
friendship  with  Ananias  the  high  priest ;  and  when 
Eleazar,  son  of  Ananias,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Sicarii,  he  consented  to  release  ten  of  his  own  prisoners 
for  his  ransom.  This  was  a  fatal  measure,  because 
henceforth  the  Sicarii,  if  one  of  their  number  fell 
into  trouble,  and  got  taken  by  the  Romans,  caught  a 
Jew  and  effected  an  exchange.  Thus  the  prisons  were 
emptied. 

At  this  time  the  Temple  was  finished,  and  eighteen 
thousand  workmen  found  themselves  suddenly  out  oi 
employment.  Terrified  at  the  prospect  of  this  starving 
mob  being  added  to  their  difficulties  (for  the  streets  oi 
Jerusalem  were  already  filled  with  bands  of  armed  men 
partisans  of  deposed  high  priests),  the  citizens  asked 
Agrippa  to  rebuild  the  Eastern  Cloisters,  the  splendic 
piece  of  work  which  had  been  built  originally  bj 
Solomon  along  that  east  wall  which  still  stands  over- 
looking the  valley  of  the  Kedron.     But  Agrippa,  whose 


MM*  (OT  OTM& 

WITH  CRUSADING  NAMES 
ABOUT  1180  A.D. 


Scale  of  Miles 


East  of  Greenwich 


GESSIUS  FLORUS.  u 

interest  in  the  turbulent  city  was  very  small,  already 
meditated  departure  to  some  safer  quarter,  and  was 
spending  all  the  money  he  had  to  spare  at  Beyrout, 
where  he  built  a  theatre,  and  collected  a  gallery  of 
sculptures.  But  he  conceded  something  to  his 
petitioners,  and  allowed  them  to  pave  the  city  with 
stone. 

Albinus  disappears  from  the  history,  and  Gessius 
Florus,  who  exchanged  a  scourging  with  whips  for  a 
scourging  with  scorpions,  ruled  in  his  place.  Cestius 
Gallus,  a  man  of  equal  rapacity  with  himself,  ruled  in 
Syria.  One  cannot  read  Josephus  without,  in  the  first 
place,  suspecting  that  he  wilfully  exaggerates  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  Roman  rulers  ;  that  he  does  so  in  the  case 
of  Albinus  is  clear,  as  we  have  shown  from  comparing 
the  account  given  in  the  '  Antiquities  '  with  that  given 
in  the  '  Wars.'  But  even  if  he  only  exaggerates,  and 
making  allowance  for  this,  were  men  of  special  in- 
humanity and  rapacity  chosen  for  those  very  qualities 
to  rule  the  country  ?  And  if  not,  if  Gessius  Florus  and 
Albinus  be  fair  specimens  of  the  officers  by  whom  Rome 
ruled  her  provinces  and  colonies,  by  what  mys- 
terious power  was  this  vast  empire  kept  from  universal 
revolt  ? 

'  Upon  what  meat  had  this  their  Caesar  fed, 
That  he  was  grown  so  great  ?' 

The  Jews,  however,  were  not  the  people  to  brook  ill- 
treatment ;  and  when  they  took  arms  against  the 
Romans  it  was  not  as  if  their  case  seemed  to  themselves 
hopeless.  They  had,  it  is  true,  the  western  world 
igainst  them ;  but  they  had  the  eastern  world  behind 
:hem,  a  possible  place  of  refuge.  And  though  they 
Trmed  against  the  whole  Roman  Empire,  it  must  be 
remembered   that   the  forces  at  the  command  of  the 


JERUSALEM. 


Emperor  were  not  overwhelming ;  that  they  were 
spread  over  Africa,  Egypt,  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain, 
Greece,  and  Italy ;  that  only  a  certain  number  could 
be  spared ;  and  that  the  number  of  the  Jews  in 
Syria  amounted  probably  to  several  millions.  When  I 
Cestius  Gallus  was  in  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the 
Passover  he  ordered  the  lambs  which  were  sacrificed  to 
be  counted.  They  came  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-five 
thousand  six  hundred.  It  was  reckoned  that  this 
represented  a  total  of  three  millions  present  in  Jerusalem  ] 
and  camped  round  about  it,  assisting  at  the  festival. 
Probably  not  more  than  half,  perhaps  not  more  than  a 
quarter,  of  the  whole  number  of  the  people  came  up. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  Palestine  was 
very  densely  populated  ;  that  there  were  great  numbers 
of  Jews  in  Alexandria,  Asia  Minor,  and  Italy ;  that  at 
any  signal  success  those  would  have  flocked  to  the 
standard  of  revolt ;  and  that  had  the  nation  been 
unanimous  and  obedient  to  one  general,  instead  ofj 
being  divided  into  sects,  parties,  and  factions,  the 
armies  of  Vespasian  and  Titus  would  have  been  wholly 
unable  to  cope  with  the  rebellion,  and  the  independence 
of  the  Jews  would  have  been  prevented  only  by  putting 
forth  all  the  power  of  the  Roman  Empire.  This  was 
shown  later  on  in  the  revolt  of  Barcochebas,  a  far 
more  serious  revolt  than  this  of  the  zealots,  though 
not  so  well  known,  because  it  was  attended  with  no 
such  signal  result  as  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  and 
because  there  was  no  Josephus  in  the  camp  of  the  J 
enemy  taking  notes  of  what  went  on. 

The  object  of  Florus,  we  are  told,  was  to  drive  the 
people  to  revolt.  This  we  do  not  believe.  It  could 
not  have  been  the  policy  of  Florus  to  drive  into  revolt  a 
dangerous  and  stubborn  people,  whose  character  was 


FLORUS.  13 


well  known  at  Rome,  whom  the  Emperor  had  always 
3een  anxious  to  conciliate.  His  object  may  have  been, 
andoubtedly  was,  to  enrich  himself  as  speedily  as 
Dossible,  knowing  that  revolt  was  impending  and  in- 
evitable, and  anxious  to  secure  for  himself  a  provision 
n  case  of  his  own  recall  or  banishment.  Until  that 
provision  was  secured,  it  would  have  been  fatal  for 
Florus  that  the  revolt  should  break  out. 

The  first  disturbances  took  place  at  Csesarea,  when 
:he  Greeks,  exulting  in  Nero's  decision,  were  daily  more 
ind  more  insulting  to  the  Jews.  The  latter  had  a 
synagogue,  round  which  was  an  open  space  of  ground 
which  they  wished  to  purchase.  The  owner  refused  to 
sell  it,  and  built  mean  shops  upon  it,  leaving  only  a 
rarrow  passage  whereby  the  Jews  could  pass  to  their 
Dlace  of  worship.  One  John,  a  publican,  went  to 
Florus,  and  begged  him  to  interfere,  offering  at  the 
same  time  a  bribe  of  eight  talents,  an  enormous  sum, 
which  shows  that  this  was  more  than  an  ordinary 
squabble.  Florus  went  away,  leaving  them  to  fight  it 
:>ut ;  and  the  Greeks  added  fresh  matter  of  wrath  to 
:he  Jews  by  ostentatiously  sacrificing  birds  in  an 
earthen  vase  as  they  passed  to  the  synagogue.  The 
significance  of  this  act  was  that  the  Greeks  loved  to 
ell  how  the  Jews  had  been  all  expelled  from  Egypt,  on 
iccount  of  their  being  leprous.  Arms  were  taken  up, 
md  the  Jews  got  the  worst  of  the  fray.  They  with- 
irew  to  a  place  some  miles  from  the  town,  and  sent 
jfohn  to  Florus  to  ask  for  assistance.  John  ventured 
)n  a  reminder  about  the  eight  talents,  and  was  re- 
warded by  being  thrown  into  prison.  Then  Florus 
vent  on  to  Jerusalem,  where  the  wildest  tumults  raged 
n  consequence  of  this  affront  to  religion.  Alarmed  at 
:he  symptoms  of  revolt,  he  sent  messengers  beforehand 


i4  JERUSALEM. 

to  take  seventeen  talents  out  of  the  sacred  treasury,^ 
on  the   ground  that  Caesar  wanted  them.     Then  the 
people  ran  to  the  Temple,  and  called  upon  Caesar  by!il 
name,  as  if  he  could  hear  them,  to   rid    them  of  this^u 
Florus.      Some     of   them    went    about    with    baskets 
begging  money  for  him  as  for  a  man  in  a  destitute  and 
miserable  condition. 

The  next  day  news  came  that  Florus  was  advancing  tojer 
the  city,  and  the  people  thought  they  had  better  go  out 
and  speak  him  fair.     But  he  was  not  disposed  to  receive 
their  salutation,  and  so  sent  on  Capito,  a  centurion,  with 
fifty  soldiers,  bidding  them  go  back  and  not  pretend  to 
receive  him  as  if  they  were  delighted  to  see  him  among  n 
them  again.  And  he  rode  into  the  city,  the  people  being  )C 
all  expectation  of  what  would  happen  the  next   dayi  >c 
And  in  the  morning  the  tribunal  of  Florus  was  erected 
before  the  gates  of  his  palace.     The  high  priest  was  J 
summoned  to  attend,  and  ordered  to  give  up  those  whc 
had  led  the  tumult.     He  urged  in  extenuation  that  he 
did  not  know  the  ringleaders,  that  the  act  of  a  few  hot- !D: 
headed  youths  ought  not  to  be  visited  on  the  whole  li: 
city,  and  that,  in  short,  he  was  very  sorry  for  the  whole  Jtl 
business,  and  hoped  Florus  would  overlook  it.     Florus.,  f 
in    reply,    ordered    his    soldiers    to    pillage  the    uppei 
market ;  they  did  so,  scourging,  pillaging,  and  murder 
ing.     Berenice,   the    sister  of  Agrippa,   came  herself 
barefoot,     with    shorn     head    and    penitential    dress 
before  Florus,  urging  him  to  have  pity.     But  the  inex 
orable  Roman,  bent  on  revenge,  allowed  the  soldiers  td 
go  on. 

Next  day  he  sent  again  for  the  high  priest,  and  tolc 
him  that  as  a  sign  of  the  loyalty  of  the  people,  and  theij  F 
sorrow  for  the  late  tumults,  he  should  expect  them  tc  l: 
go  forth  and  meet  the  two  cohorts  who  were  advanc 


FLORUS.  15 

[g  to  Jerusalem  with  every  sign  of  joy.     The  seditious 

irt  of  the  citizens  refused.     Then  the  chief  priests, 

ith  dust  upon  their  heads  and  rent  garments,  brought 

it  the  holy  vessels  and  the  sacerdotal  robes,  with  the 

arpers  and  their  harps,  and  implored  the  people  not  to 

sk  a  collision  with  the  Romans.     They  yielded,  and 

ent  out  to  welcome  the  cohorts.    But  the  soldiers  pre- 

srved  a  gloomy  silence.     Then  some  of  the  more  fiery 

ews,  turning  on  the  Romans,  began  to  abuse  Florus. 

'he  horsemen  rode  at  them  and  trampled  them  down, 

nd  a  scene  of  the  wildest  uproar  took  place  at  the  gates 

5  they  pressed  and  jostled  each  other  to  get  in.     Then 

le  troops  marched  straight  on  Antonia,  hoping  to  get 

oth  the  fortress  and  the  Temple  into  their  hands.   They 

ot  into  Antonia,  when  the  Jews  cut  down  some  part  of 

le  cloisters  which  connected  the  fort  with  the  Temple. 

lorus  tried  to  join  them,  but  his  men  could  not  pass 

irough  the  streets,  which  were  crammed  with  Jews. 

nd  next  day  Florus  retired  to  Caesarea,  leaving  only 

ne  cohort  behind,  and  the  city  boiling  and  seething 

ith  rage  and  madness.     And  now,  indeed,  there  was 

ttle  hope  of  any  reconciliation.     Both  Florus  and  the 

ews  sent  statements  of  their  conduct  to  Cestius  Gallus, 

ad  begged  for  an  investigation.     And  it  must  have 

een  now,   if    at  all,   that  Florus  became  desirous  of 

inning  the    embers  of  discontent  into  a  flame,  and 

laking  that  a  war  which  had  only  promised  to  be  a 

isturbance.     But  nothing  can  be  discovered  to  prove 

lat  Josephus's  assertion  as  to  his  motives  is  based  on 

Let.     It  is  easy,  of  course,   to  attribute  motives,  but 

ard  to  prove  them.     Nothing  advanced  by  Josephus 

roves  more  than  that  Florus  was  rapacious  and  cruel, 

nd  the  people  discontented  and  turbulent.     Cestius 

jnt  Neapolitanus,  one  of  his  officers,  to  report  on  the 


1 6  JERUSALEM. 


d 


condition    of    the   city.      Agrippa    joined    him.     Th 
people  came  sixty  furlongs  out   of  the  town  to  meet4 
them,  crying  and  lamenting,  calling  on  Agrippa  to  helpj 
them  in  their  misery,  and  beseeching  Neapolitanus  to 
hear  their  complaints  against  Florus.     The  latter  theyj) 
took  all  round  the  city,  showing  him  that  it  was  per 
fectly  quiet,  and  that  the  people  had  risen,  not  against 
the  Romans,  but  against  Florus.     Then  Neapolitanusj 
went  into  the  Temple  to  perform    such  sacrifices  asD 
were  allowed  to  strangers,  and  commending  the  Jews 
for  their  fidelity,  went  back  to  Cestius.     Agrippa  came 
next.     Placing  his  sister  Berenice,  doubtless  a  favourite  | 
with  the  people,  in  the  gallery  with  him,  he  made 
long   harangue.      He   implored  them  to   consider  the 
vast  power  of  the  Romans,  and  not,  for  the  sake  oi 
a  quarrel  with  one  governor,  to  bring  upon  themselves 
the  ruin  of  themselves,  their  families,  and  their  nation 
He  pointed  out  that  if  they  would  have  patience  the 
state  of  their  country  should  be  fairly  placed  before  the 
Emperor's  consideration,  and  he  pledged  himself  tha 
it  would  receive  his  best  care.     '  Have  pity,'  he  con 
eluded,  with  a   burst  of   tears, — *  have   pity  on   you] 
children  and  your  wives  ;  have  pity  upon  this  your  crh 
and  its  holy  walls,  and  spare  the  Temple  ;  preserve  th( 
Holy  House  for  yourselves.' 

The  Jews,  ever  an  impressionable  race,  yielded  t( 
the  entreaties  of  Agrippa  and  the  tears  of  Berenice 
and  making  up  the  tribute  money,  paid  it  into  th 
treasury.  Then  they  began  to  repair  the  damage  the; 
had  done  to  Antonia.  All  looked  well ;  but  there  wa 
one  thing  yet  wanting  to  complete  their  submission 
they  were  to  obey  Florus  till  he  should  be  removed 
This  condition  they  refused  to  comply  with,  and  whe] 
Agrippa  urged  it  upon  them,  they  threw  stones  at  him 


THE  INSURRECTION.  17 

nd  reproached  him  with  the  uttermost  bitterness, 
"hen  Agrippa  went  away  in  despair,  taking  with  him 
Berenice,  and  leaving  the  city  to  its  fate. 

The  insurrection  began,  as  it  ended,  with  the  taking 
f  the  strong  fortress  of  Masada  near  the  Dead  Sea. 
lere  the  Roman  garrison  were  all  slaughtered.  Eleazar 
tie  son  of  Ananias  the  high  priest  began  the  insurrec- 
ion  in  Jerusalem,  by  passing  a  law  that  the  sacrifices 
f  strangers  were  henceforth  to  be  forbidden,  and  no 
nperial  gifts  to  be  offered.  The  moderate  party  used 
11  their  influence,  but  in  vain,  to  prevent  this.  Agrippa 
ent  a  small  army  of  three  thousand  men  to  help  the 
loderates.  The  insurgents  seized  the  Temple :  the 
loderates,  who  included  all  the  wealthy  classes,  occu- 
ied  the  Upper  City,  and  hostilities  commenced.  A  great 
ccession  of  strength  to  the  insurgents  was  caused  by 
le  burning  of  the  public  archives,  where  all  debts  were 
nrolled,  and  consequently  the  power  of  the  rich  was 
iken  from  them  at  one  blow. 

Then  appeared  on  the  scene  another  leader,  for  a  very 
rief  interval,  Manahem,  the  youngest  son  of  Judas  the 
■alilaean.  He  came  dressed  in  royal  robes  and  sur- 
)unded  with  guards,  no  doubt  eager  to  play  the  part 
f  another  Maccabaeus.  The  insurgents  took  Antonia 
id  the  royal  palace,  and  drove  the  Roman  garrison  to 
le  three  strong  towns  of  Hippicus,  Phasaelus,  and 
[ariamne.  Ananias,  found  hidden  in  an  aqueduct, 
as  killed  at  once  ;  and  Manahem  became  so  puffed 
3  with  his  success  that  he  became  intolerable.  It 
as  easy  to  get  rid  of  this  mushroom  king,  who  was 
^posed  without  any  trouble  by  Eleazar  and  tortured  to 
iath.  And  then  the  Roman  garrison  yielded,  Metilius, 
>eir  commander,  stipulating  only  for  the  lives  of  his 
•ldiers.     This  was  granted;  but  no  sooner  had  they 

2 


1 8  JERUSALEM. 


laid  down  their  arms  than  the  Jews  fell  upon  them, 
vainly  calling  on  the  faith  of  a  treaty,  and  murdered 
them  all  except  Metilius.  Him  they  spared  on  condi- 
tion of  his  becoming  a  proselyte. 

On  that  very  day   and   hour,  while   the  Jews   were 
plunging  their  daggers  in  the  hearts  of  the  Romans,  a: 
great  and  terrible  slaughter  of  their  own  people  was 
going  on  in  Csesarea,  where  the   Syrians  and   Greeks 
had  risen  upon  the  Jews,  and  massacred  twenty  thou 
sand  of  them  in  a  single  day.     And  in  every  Syrian  cityj 
the  same  madness  and  hatred  seized  the  people,  and 
the  Jews  were  ruthlessly  slaughtered  in  all.     No  morej 
provocation  was  needed  ;    no  more  was  possible.     In 
spite   of   all  their  turbulence,   their  ungovernable   ob 
stinacy,   their  fanaticism  and   pride,   which   made  the 
war   inevitable,    and    in   the    then    state   of    mankind 
these  very  massacres   inevitable,  one  feels  a  profound 
sympathy  with  the  people  who  dared  to  fight  and  die, 
seeing  that  it  was  hopeless  to   look  for  better  things 
The  heads  of  the  people  began  the  war  with  gloomy 
forebodings  ;    the    common    masses   with    the   wildest 
enthusiasm,  which    became    the    mere  intoxication  of 
success  when  they  drove  back  Cestius  from  the  walls 
of  the  city,  on  the  very  eve  of  his  anticipated  victory 
for  Cestius  hastened  southwards  with  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand    men,  and   besieged    the    city.     The   people; 
divided    amongst    themselves,   were    on    the    point    oi 
opening  the  gates  to  the  Romans,  when,  to  the  surpris 
of  everybody,  Cestius  suddenly  broke  up  his  camp  anc 
began  to  retreat.     Why  he  did  so,  no  one  ever  knew 
possessed    by     a    divine    madness,    Josephus    thinks 
though  God  would  take  no  pity  on  the  city  and   the| 
Sanctuary.     As  the  heavy-armed  Romans  plodded  or} 
their  way  in  serried  ranks,   they  were   followed   by   ai 


VESPASIAN  IN  GALILEE. 


ountless  multitude,  gathering  in  numbers  every  hour, 
mo  assailed  them  with  darts,  with  stones,  and  with 
isults.  The  retreat  became  a  flight,  and  Cestius 
rought  back  his  army  with  a  quarter  of  its  numbers 
illed,  having  allowed  the  Roman  arms  to  receive  the 
lost  terrible  disgrace  they  had  ever  endured  in  the 
test. 

Vespasian  was  sent  hastily  with  a  force  of  three 
jgions  besides  the  cohorts  of  auxiliaries.  A  finer  army 
ad  never  been  put  into  the  field,  nor  did  any  army  have 
ver  harder  work  before  them.  Of  the  first  campaign, 
hat  in  Galilee,  our  limits  will  not  allow  us  to  write.  In 
he  graphic  pages  of  Josephus,  himself  the  hero  of 
otapata,  or  in  the  still  more  graphic  pages  of  Milman, 
lay  be  read  how  the  Jews  fought,  step  by  step,  bring- 
ig  to  their  defence  not  only  the  most  dogged  courage, 
ut  also  the  most  ingenious  devices;  how  the  blue 
faves  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  were  reddened  with  the 
lood  of  those  whom  the  Romans  killed  in  their  boats  ; 
ow  Vespasian  broke  his  word  and  sold  as  slaves  those 
e  had  promised  to  pardon  ;  how  Gamala  fought  and 
xischala  fell,  and  how,  for  the  sins  of  the  people,  John 
'as  permitted  by  Heaven  to  escape  and  become  the 
yrant  of  Jerusalem. 

The  months  passed  on,  and  yet  the  Romans  appeared 
ot  before  the  walls  of  the  city.     This  meantime  was 

prey  to  internal  evils,  which  when  read  appear  almost 
lcredible.  The  bold  rough  country  folk  who  followed 
ohn,  who  had  fought  in  Galilee,  and  escaped  the 
aughter  of  Vespasian,  came  up  to  the  city  filled  with 
ne  idea,  that  of  resistance.     In  their  eyes  a  Moderate, 

Romanizer,  was  an  enemy  worse  than  a  Roman,  for 

\  was  a  traitor  to  the  country.  They  found  themselves 
\  a  rich  and  luxurious  town,  filled  with  things  of  which 

2 — 2 


2o  JERUSALEM. 


in  their  distant  homes  they  had   had  no   idea.     An 
these  things    all  belonged  to  the  Romanizers.     They, 
needed  little  permission  to  pillage,  less  to  murder  the 
men  who  had  everything  to  lose,  and  nothing  to  gain, 
by  continuing  the  war.     And  then  ensued  a  civil  war,l 
the  scenes  of  which    surpass  in  horror  those  of  any 
other  page  in  history.     Through  the   streets  ran  th 
zealots    dressed    in    fantastic    garb,    which    they   ha 
pillaged,  some  of  them  attired  as  women,  murdering  al 
the  rich  and  those  who  were  obnoxious  to  their  party 
It  is  vain  to  follow  their  course  of  plunder,  murder,  an 
sedition.     They  invited  the  Idumaeans  to  come  to  their 
assistance — a  fierce  and  warlike  race,  who  had  been  al'j 
Judaized  since  the  time  of  Hyrcanus.  These  gladly  came' 
By  night,  while  a  dreadful  tempest  raged  overhead, 
sign  of  God's  wrath,  and  amid  the  shrieks  of  wounde 
men  and  despairing  women,  the  Idumaeans  attacke 
and  gained  possession  of  the  Temple,  and  when  th 
day  dawned  eight  thousand  bodies  lay  piled  within  th 
sacred  area.     Among  them  were  those  of  Ananus,  an 
Jesus  the  son  of  Gamala,  the  high  priests.     Strippe 
naked,  their  corpses  were  thrown  out  to  the  dogs,  anc 
it  was   forbidden    even   to    bury   them.      Simon    Ba 
Gioras,  who  had  first  signalized  himself  in  the  defeat  o 
Cestius,    came   to   the    city   to  add  one  more  to  th 
factions.     The  moderate  party  were  stamped  out  an 
exterminated,  and  the  city  divided  between  John  an 
Simon,    who    fought    incessantly    till   Titus's    legion 
appeared  before  the  walls. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    SIEGE     OF   JERUSALEM. 

Bella,  sublimis,  inclyta  divitiis, 

Olim  fuisti  celsa  sedificiis, 
Moenibus  clara,  sed  magis  innumerum 

Civium  turmis. 

he  events  at  Rome  which  elevated  Vespasian  to  the 
irone  were  the  principal  reasons  that  the  siege  of 
erusalem  was  not  actually  commenced  till  the  early 
ummer  of  the  year  70,  when,  in  April,  Titus  began  his 
narch  from  Caesarea.  His  army  consisted  of  four 
2gions :  the  5th,  under  Sextus  Cerealis ;  the  10th, 
nder  Lartius  Lepidus ;  the  12th,  that  which  had 
uffered  defeat  under  Cestius,  and  was  still  in  disgrace, 
nd  the  15th.  Besides  this  formidable  force  of  regulars, 
te  had  a  very  large  number  of  auxiliaries.  The  exact 
umber  of  his  troops  is  not  easy  to  estimate.  We  may 
t  once  put  aside,  as  clearly  below  the  mark,  the 
stimate  which  puts  Titus's  army  at  thirty  thousand ; 
Dr  if  we  agree  in  accepting  Josephus's  statement*  with 

*  Let  us  take  the  opportunity  of  stating  our  opinion  that  Jose- 
hus's  testimony  may  generally  be  relied  upon.  It  was  for  a  long 
me  the  fashion  to  hold  up  his  exaggerations  to  ridicule.  Thus, 
hen  he  spoke  of  the  height  of  the  wall  as  being  such  as  to  make 
le  head  reel,  travellers  remembered  the  fifty  feet  of  wall  or  so  at 
\e  present  day  and  laughed.  But  Sir  Charles  Warren  found  that 
le  wall  was  in  parts  as  much  as  200  feet  high.  Surely  a  man  may 
e  excused  for  feeling  giddy  at  looking  down  a  depth  of  200  feet, 
/henever  Josephus  speaks  from  personal  knowledge,  he  appears 


22  JERUSALEM. 

regard  to  Vespasian's  army  in  the  year  67,  it  consisted 
of  sixty  thousand,  including  the  auxiliaries.  The 
campaign  in  Galilee  cost  him  a  few,  but  not  many, 
killed  in  the  sieges.  We  may  deduct  a  small  number, 
too,  but  not  many,  for  garrison  work,  for  the  conquest 
of  the  country  had  been,  after  the  usual  Roman  fashion, 
thorough  and  complete.  Not  only  were  the  people 
defeated,  but  they  were  slaughtered.  Not  only  was 
their  spirit  crushed,  but  their  powers  of  making  even 
the  feeblest  resistance  were  taken  away  from  them  ;*j 
and  all  those  who  were  yet  desirous  of  carrying  on  the  I 
war,  those  of  the  fanatics  who  escaped  the  sword  of' 
Vespasian,  had  fled  to  Jerusalem  to  fall  by  the  sword  of 
Titus.  A  very  small  garrison  would  be  required  for 
Galilee  and  Samaria,  and  we  may  be  very  sure  that  the 
large  army  which  was  with  Vespasian  in  67  nearly  all 
followed  Titus  in  70.  The  legions  had  been  filled  up, 
and  new  auxiliaries  had  arrived. t  Besides  these, 
Josephus  expressly  says  that  the  army  of  Vespasian, 
and  therefore  that  of  Titus,  was  accompanied  by 
servants^  '  in  vast  numbers,  who,  because  they  had 
been  trained  up  in  war  with  the  rest,  ought  not  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  fighting  men  :  for,  as  they  were 

to  us  to  be  accurate  and  trustworthy.  There  is  nothing  on  which 
he  could  speak  with  greater  authority,  which  would  sooner  have 
been  discovered,  than  a  misstatement  as  regards  the  Roman  army. 

*  Milman  gives  a  list  of  the  losses  of  the  Jews  in  this  war  com- 
piled from  the  numbers  given  by  Josephus.  It  amounts  to  more 
than  three  millions.     Deductions  must,  of  course,  be  made. 

t  No  argument  ought  to  be  founded  on  the  supposed  numbers  of 
the  legions.  The  number  ge?ierally  composing  a  legion  in  the  time 
of  the  Empire  was  6000,  and  before  the  Empire,  was  4000.  But  at 
Pharsalia  Caesar's  legions  were  only  2000  each,  while  Pompey's  were 
7000. 

%  It  is  very  curious  that  these  'servants'  are  not  mentioned 
either  by  Mr.  Lewin  or  Mr.  Fergusson.  Mr.  Williams  puts  down 
the  number  of  the  legions  at  10,000  each,  perhaps  including  the 
servants. 


CIVIL  DISSENSIONS.  23 

in  their  master's  service  in  times  of  peace,  so  did  they 
undergo  the  like  danger  with  them  in  time  of  war, 
tiisomuch  that  they  were  inferior  to  none  either  in 
skill  or  in  strength,  only  they  were  subject  to  their 
masters.' 

It  is  not  easy  to  make  any  kind  of  estimate  of  the 
number  of  these  servants.  Perhaps,  however,  we  shall 
be  within  the  mark  if  we  put  down  the  whole  number 
of  forces  under  Titus's  command  at  something  like 
eighty  thousand — an  army  which  was  greatly  superior 
in  numbers  to  that  of  the  besieged.  It  was  also  fully 
provided  and  equipped  with  military  engines,  provisions 
and  material  of  all  kinds.  It  marched,  without  meet- 
ing any  enemy,  from  Csesarea  to  Jerusalem,  where  it 
(arrived  on  the  nth  of  April.* 

The  city,  meanwhile,  had  been  continuing  those  civil 
dissensions  which  hastened  its  ruin.  John,  Simon  Bar 
Gioras,  and  Eleazar,  each  at  the  head  of  his  own 
faction,  made  the  streets  run  with  blood.  John,  whose 
followers  numbered  six  thousand,  held  the  Lower,  New, 
&nd  Middle  City ;  Simon,  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand 
ews  and  five  thousand  Idumaeans,  had  the  strong  post 
of  the  Upper  City,  with  a  portion  of  the  third  wall ; 
Eleazar,  with  two  thousand  zealots,  more  frantic  than 
(the  rest,  had  barricaded  himself  within  the  Temple 
itself.  There  they  admitted,  it  is  true,  unarmed 
worshippers,  but  kept  out  the  rest.  The  stores  of  the 
Temple  provided  them  with  abundance  of  provisions, 
land  while  the  rest  of  the  soldiers  were  starving,  those 
who  were  within  the  Temple  wallst  were  well  fed  and 
n  good  case.     This  was,  however,  the  only  advantage 

*  The  dates  of  the  siege  are  all  taken  from  Professor  Willis's 
'Journal,'  given  in  Williams's  '  Holy  City,'  vol.  i.,  p.  478. 
t  After  Eleazar  had  succumbed  to  John. 


24  JERUSALEM. 


which  Eleazar  possessed  over  the  rest.  Their  position, 
cooped  up  in  a  narrow  fortress — for  such  the  Temple.' 
was — and  exposed  to  a  constant  shower  of  darts,  stone.  . 
and  missiles  of  all  sorts,  from  John's  men,  was  miser- 
able enough.  John  and  Simon  fought  with  each  other 
in  the  lower  ground,  the  valley  of  the  Tyropoeon,  which' 
lay  between  the  Temple  and  Mount  Zion.  Here  were 
stored  up  supplies  of  corn  sufficient,  it  is  said,  for) 
many  years.  But  in  the  sallies  which  John  and  Simori 
made  upon  each  other  all  the  buildings  in  this  part  of 
the  town  were  destroyed  or  set  on  fire,  and  all  their1" 
corn  burned  ;  so  that  famine  had  actually  begun  before 
the  commencement  of  the  siege. 

'  And  now,'  to  quote  the  words  of  the  historian, 
1  the  people  of  the  city  were  like  a  great  body  torn  in 
pieces.  The  aged  men  and  the  women  were  in  such 
distress  by  their  internal  calamities  that  they  wished 
for  the  Romans,  and  earnestly  hoped  for  an  external 
war,  in  order  to  deliver  them  from  their  domestic 
miseries.  The  citizens  themselves  were  under  a  terrible 
consternation  and  fear ;  nor  had  they  any  opportunity 
of  taking  counsel  and  of  changing  their  conduct ;  nor 
were  there  any  hopes  of  coming  to  an  agreement  with 
their  enemies  ;  nor  could  such  as  wished  to  do  so  flee 
away,  for  guards  were  set  at  all  places,  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  robbers  agreed  in  killing  those  who  wished  for 
peace  with  the  Romans.' 

Day  and  night,  he  goes  on  to  tell  us,  the  wretched 
inhabitants  were  harassed  with  the  shouts  of  those  who 
fought,  and  the  lamentations  of  those  who  mourned, 
until,  through  the  overwhelming  fear,  every  one  for 
himself,  relations  ceased  to  care  for  each  other,  the 
living  ceased  to  mourn  for  the  dead,  and  those  who 
were  not  among  the  defenders  of  the  walls  ceased  to 


POPULATION.  25 


tare   for  anything  or  to  look  for  anything  except   for 
speedy    destruction  ;    and  this  even    before  the  siege 
:>egan. 

And  yet,  with  the  city  in  this  miserable  and  wretched 
condition,  with  the  certain  knowledge  that  the  Romans 
were  coming,  the  usual  crowds  of  Jews  and  Idumaeans 
rflocked  to  the  city  to  keep  the  feast  of  the  Passover. 
Their  profound  faith  was  proof  against  every  disaster. 
That  the  Temple  should  actually  fall,  actually  be  de- 
stroyed, seems  never  even  to  have  entered  into  their 
heads;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  rude, 
rough  country  people,  coming  to  keep  the  Passover 
with  their  wives  and  children,  were  filled  with  a  wild 
hope  that  the  God  of  Joshua  was  about  to  work  some 
signal  deliverance  for  them.  The  population  thus 
crowded  into  the  city  is  estimated  by  Tacitus  at  six 
hundred  thousand ;  by  Josephus  at  more  than  double 
that  number.  There  are  reasons  for  believing  the 
number  at  least  as  great  as  that  stated  by  Tacitus.  A 
register  of  the  buried  had  been  kept  in  the  city,  and 
the  registrar  of  one  gate,  out  of  which  the  dead  were 
thrown,  gave  Josephus  a  note  of  his  numbers.  The 
historian  conversed  with  those  who  escaped.  A  list  of 
the  captives  would  be,  no  doubt,  made — the  Romans 
were  not  in  the  habit  of  doing  things  carelessly,  even 
after  a  great  victory  —  and  would  be  accessible  to 
Josephus.  So  far  as  these  go  we  ought  to  allow 
Josephus's  right  to  the  consideration  due  to  an  eye- 
witness ;  and  it  seems  to  us  absolutely  unwarranted  by 
any  historical  or  other  arguments,  to  put  down,  as  has 
been  done,  the  population  of  this  city  during  the  siege 
at  sixty  or  seventy  thousand.*  This  was  doubtless 
something   like  the  ordinary  population  ;    but  it  was 

*  Fergusson's  Art.  'Jerusalem,'  Biblical  Dictionary. 


26  JERUSALEM. 

swelled  tenfold  and  twentyfold  by  the  crowds  of  those 
who  came  yearly  to  keep  the  feast.     Again,  the  argu- 
ment based  by  Mr.  Fergusson  on  the  area  of  the  cit\( 
fails  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  founded  on  wrong 
calculations*  as  to  the  number  of  square  yards.    More-I 
over,  it  seems  to  assume  the  besieged  to  have  been  al| 
comfortably  lodged  ;  it  ignores  altogether  the  estimate^ 
taken  by   Cestius  ;  while,  if  the  numbers   adopted   b4/ 
Mr.  Fergusson  be  correct,  the  horrors  of  the  siege  must* 
have  been  grossly  exaggerated,  and  the  stories  told  byf 
Josephus  cannot  be  accepted  ;  and,  for  a  last  objection, 
it  appears  to  be  assumed,  what  is  manifestly  incorrect, 
that  every  able-bodied  man  fought.    For  this  vast  mass   \ 
of  poor   helpless    people  were    a    brutum  pecus ;    they 
took   no   part   whatever    in    the    fighting.     Nothing  is 
clearer  than  the  statement  made   by  Josephus  of  the 
fighting  men.     They  were  twenty-three  thousand  in  all 
at  the  beginning :  they  did  not  invite  help,  and  pro- 
bably would  not  allow  it,  from  the  population  within 
the  walls.     These,  who  very   speedily   found  relief,  in 
the  thinning  of  death,  for  their  first  lack  of  accommo- 
dation, sat  crouching  and  cowering  in  the  houses,  des- 
perately hoping  against   hope,  starving  from  the  very 

*  Taking  the  shape  of  the  city  to  be  circular  and  23  stadia  in 
circumference  (it  was  more  nearly  circular  than  square),  we  find 
its  area  to  have  been  rather  more  than  3,500,000  square  yards. 
This,  at  30  square  yards  to  one  person,  gives  about  120,000  for  the 
ordinary  population.  And  there  were  extensive  gardens  and  nume- 
rous villas  to  the  north  and  east  which  contained  another  popu- 
lation altogether  quite  impossible  to  estimate.  And  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  Cestius  (Joseph.  '  Bell.  Jud.'  vi.  ix.  3)  caused  an 
estimate  to  be  made,  a  very  few  years  before  the  siege,  of  the 
numbers  actually  present  at  the  Passover,  and  that  the  official 
return  was  2,560,500  persons.  The  whole  question  is  clearly  stated 
by  Mr.  Williams  ('  Holy  City,'  vol.  i.,  p.  481).  And,  as  he  points 
out  very  justly,  it  is  not  a  question  how  many  would  be  comfortably 
accommodated  in  Jerusalem,  but  how  many  were  actually  cram?ned 
into  it. 


SIGNS  AND  PORTENTS.  27 

immencement,  beginning  to  die  in  heaps  almost 
bfefore  the  camp  of  the  Tenth  Legion  was  pitched  upon 
the  Mount  of  Olives.  The  numbers  given  by  Josephus 
may  not  be  correct  within  a  great  many  thousands  ; 
there  is  reason  enough,  however,  to  believe  that, 
vithin  limits  very  much  narrower  than  some  of  his 
headers  are  disposed  to  believe,  his  numbers  may  be 
fairly  depended  on.  After  all,  it  matters  little  enough 
what  the  numbers  really  were  ;  and  even  if  we  let 
them  be  what  anyone  chooses  to  call  them,  there  yet 
remains  no  doubt  that  the  sufferings  of  the  people  were 
very  cruel,  and  that,  of  all  wretched  and  bloody  sieges 
in  the  world's  history,  few,  if  any,  have  been  more 
wretched  or  more  bloody  than  the  siege  of  Jerusalem 
by  Titus. 

The  people  knew  full  well,  of  course,  that  the  Romans 
were  coming.  Fear  was  upon  all,  and  expectation  of 
things  great  and  terrible.  As  in  all  times  of  general  ex- 
citement, signs  were  reported  to  have  been  seen  in  the 
heavens,  and  portents,  which,  however,  might  be  read 
both  ways,  were  observed.  A  star  shaped  like  a  sword, 
and  a  comet,  stood  over  the  city  for  a  whole  year.  A 
great  light  had  shone  on  the  altar  at  the  ninth  hour  of 
the  night.  A  heifer,  led  up  to  be  sacrificed,  brought 
forth  a  lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  Temple.  The  eastern 
gate  of  the  inner  court,  so  heavy  that  it  required 
twenty  men  to  move  it,  flew  open  of  its  own  accord  in 
the  night.  Chariots  and  troops  of  soldiers  in  armour 
were  seen  running  about  in  the  clouds,  and  surrounding 
cities.  When  the  priests  were  one  night  busy  in  their 
sacred  offices,  they  felt  the  earth  quaking  beneath  them, 
and  heard  a  cry,  as  of  a  great  multitude,  '  Let  us  re- 
move hence  !'  And  always  up  and  down  the  city 
wandered  Jesus,  the  son  of  Ananus,  crying,  '  Woe,  woe 


; 


28  JERUSALEM.  I 

to  Jerusalem  !'  until  the  siege  began  in  earnest,  whe 
he  ceased ;  for  being  on  the  wall,  he  cried,  '  Woe,  wo 
to  the  city  again  !  and  to  the  people,  and  to  the  Hoi 
House  !'  and  then,  as  he  added,  '  Woe,  woe  to  myse 
also !'  a  stone  from  one  of  the  engines  smote  him  an 
he  died. 

Titus  posted  the  Tenth  Legion  on  the  Mount  c 
Olives,  and  the  Twelfth  and  Fifteenth  on  Moun 
Scopus,  the  Fifth  remaining  some  little  distance  be- 
hind. As  the  Tenth  were  engaged  in  pitching  their 
camp,  the  Jews,  whose  leaders  had  hastily  patched  up 
a  kind  of  peace,  suddenly  sallied  forth  from  the  eastern 
gate,  and  marching  across  the  valley  of  the 
Kedron,  charged  the  Romans  before  they  had 
time  to  form  in  battle.  Titus  himself  brought  a  chosen 
body  to  their  relief,  and  the  Jews  were,  with  great 
difficulty,  driven  back. 

The  next  four  days  were  spent  in  clearing  the  ground 
to  the  north  of  the  city,  the  only  part  where  an  attack 
could  be  made.  '  They*  threw  down  the  hedges  and 
walls  which  the  people  had  made  about  their  gardens 
and  groves  of  trees,  and  cut  down  the  fruit-trees  which 
lay  between  them  and  the  wall  of  the  city.' 

The  Jews,  furious  at  sight  of  this  destruction,  made  a 
sally,  pretending  at  first  to  be  outcasts  from  the  city, 
and  hiding  the  weapons  until  they  were  close  upon  the 
enemy.  On  this  occasion  the  Romans  were  utterly 
routed,  and  fled,  pursued  by  the  Jews  '  as  far  as  Helen's 
monument.'  It  was  a  gleam  of  sunshine,  and  nearly 
the  only  gleam  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  besieged.  Titus 
removed  his  camp  to  the  north  side  of  the  city,  and 
leaving  the  Tenth  still  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  placed 
the  Fifth  on  the  west  of  the  city,  over  against  the 
0  Joseph.  '  Bell.  Jud."  v.  iii.  2. 


SIGNS  AND  POX  TENTS.  29 

wers  of  Hippicus  and  Phasaelus,  and  the  Twelfth 
Lftd  Fifteenth  on  the  north.  A  cordon  of  men,  seven 
teep,  was  drawn  round  the  north  and  west  of  the  city. 
fChis  must  have  taken  some  twenty-five  thousand  men 
.0  effect. 

On  the  morning  of  the  Passover,  John  contrived — 
taking  advantage  of  the  permission  freely  granted 
to  all  who  chose  to  enter  the  Temple  unarmed 
— to  send  in  his  own  men,  choosing  those  whose 
features  were  not  known  to  Eleazar's  followers,  with 
concealed  weapons.  Directly  they  got  into  the  Inner 
Temple,  they  made  an  attack  on  the  men  of  the  opposite 
faction.  A  good  many  were  slaughtered,  and  the  rest, 
finding  it  best  to  yield,  made  terms  with  their  con- 
querors, Eleazar's  life  being  spared.  There  now 
remained  only  two  factions  in  the  city,  Simon  holding 
the  strongest  place — the  Palace  of  Herod,  which  com- 
manded the  Upper  Town  —  and  John  the  Temple 
Fortress,  without  which  the  Lower  Town  could  not  be 
taken. 

It  was  determined  to  begin  the  assault  with  the 
north-western  part  of  the  wall,  that  part  of  it  where 
the  valley  turns  in  a  north-westerly  direction  and  leaves 
a  level  space  between  the  wall  and  its  own  course. 
The  engines  used  by  the  Romans  were  those  always 
employed  in  the  conduct  of  a  siege — the  ballistae,  the 
towers,  and  the  battering-rams.  Then  banks  were 
constructed,  on  each  of  which  was  a  tower  and  a  ram. 
In  the  construction  of  these  last  all  the  trees  round 
Jerusalem  were  cut  down.  Nor  have  they  ever  been  re- 
planted, and  a  thousand  years  later  on  the  siege  of  the 
city  by  the  Crusaders,  only  inferior  in  horror  to  that  of 
Titus,  nearly  miscarried  for  want  of  timber  to  construct 
the  towers  of  assault. 


30  JERUSALEM. 


As  soon  as  the  banks  were  sufficiently  advanced  thM 
battering  rams  were  mounted  and  the  assault  coft  }- 
menced.  The  Jews,  terrified  by  the  thunder  of  th.e 
rams  against  the  city,  annoyed,  too,  by  the  stones  which 
came  into  the  city  from  the  ballistse,  joined  their 
forces  and  tried  a  sortie  from  a  secret  gate  near  Hippicus. 
Their  object  was  to  destroy  the  machines  by  fire ;  and 
in  this  they  well-nigh  succeeded,  fighting  with  a 
desperation  and  courage  which  no  Roman  troops  had 
ever  before  experienced.  Titus  himself  was  in  the 
conflict ;  he  killed  twelve  Jews  with  his  own  hands ; 
but  the  Romans  would  have  given  way  had  it  not  been 
for  the  reinforcement  of  some  Alexandrian  troops  who 
came  up  at  the  right  moment  and  drove  back  the  Jews. 

On  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  siege  the  biggest  batter- 
ing-ram, '  Nikon,'  the  Conqueror,  effected  a  breach 
in  the  outer  wall.  The  Jews,  panic-stricken,  forgot 
their  wonted  courage  and  took  refuge  within  the  second 
wall.  Titus  became  therefore  master  of  Bezetha,  in 
the  New  Town,  forming  about  a  third  of  the  city. 

As  nothing  is  said  about  the  population  of  this, 
which  was  probably  only  a  suburb  and  never  actually 
filled  with  people  till  the  siege  began,  we  may  suppose 
that  very  early  in  the  assault  they  hastened  out  of 
reach  of  the  ballistse  and  arrows  by  fleeing  to  the  inner 
city.  And  by  this  time  a  fortnight  of  the  siege  had 
passed  away  and  already  their  numbers  were  grievously 
thinned  by  starvation. 

Between  the  palace  of  Herod  and  the  Temple  area 
there  stretched  the  second  wall  across  the  Tyropceon 
valley,  which  was  filled,  before  the  faction  fights  of 
Simon  and  John,  with  houses  of  the  lower  sort  of 
people.  This  was  the  most  densely  populated  part  of 
the  city.     The  wall  which  defended  it  was  not  so  strong 


THE  ASSAULT.  31 


als  the  rest  of  the  fortifications,  and  in  five  days,  in- 
cluding an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  storm  the  Palace  of 
Herod,  a  breach  was  effected  and  the  Romans  poured 
into  the  town,  Titus  at  their  head. 

In  hopes  of  detaching  the  people  from  the  soldiers, 
Titus  ordered  that  no  houses  should  be  destroyed,  no 
property  pillaged,  and  the  lives  of  the  people  spared.  It 
I  was  an  act  of  mercy  which  the  fierce  passions  of  the 
'Jews  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  weakness,  and  renewing 
1  their  contest,  fighting  hand  to  hand  in  the  streets,  from 
I  the  houses,  from  the  walls,  they  beat  the  Romans  back, 
and  recaptured  their  wall,  filling  the  breach  with  their 
own  bodies.  The  battle  lasted  for  four  days  more, 
when  Titus,  entering  again,  threw  down  the  whole 
northern  part  of  the  wall  and  became  master  of  the 
whole  Lower  Town. 

Partly  to  give  his  troops  rest,  partly  to  exhibit  his 
power  before  the  Jews,  Titus  gave  orders  that  the  pay- 
ing of  the  troops  should  be  made  the  opportunity  for  a 
review  of  the  whole  army  almost  under  the  walls  of  the 
:  city,  and  in  full  view  of  the  besieged.  The  pageant 
lasted  four  days,  during  which  there  was  a  grand  march- 
past  of  the  splendid  Roman  troops,  with  burnished 
armour  and  weapons,  and  in  full  uniform. 

'  So  the  soldiers,  according  to  custom,  opened  the 
cases  where  their  arms  before  lay  covered,  and  marched 
with  their  breastplates  on  ;  as  did  the  horsemen  lead 
the  horses  in  their  fine  trappings.  .  .  .  The  whole  of 
the  old  wall  and  the  north  side  of  the  Temple  were  full 
of  spectators,  and  one  might  see  the  houses  full  of  such 
as  looked  at  them  ;  nor  was  there  any  part  of  the  city 
which  was  not  covered  over  with  their  multitudes ; 
nay,  a  great  consternation  seized  upon  the  hardiest  of 
the  Jews  themselves,  when  they  saw  all  the  army  in  the 


32  JERUSALEM. 


same   place,   together  with  the  success  of  their  arm  s  1 
and  the  good  order  of  the  men.'* 

The   Jews  saw   and  trembled.      But   they  did   not 
submit.     There  could    be  no    longer  any  hope.     The 
multitude,  pent  up  in  limits  too  narrow  for  one-tenth  of 
their  number,  daily  obtained  more  room  by  death,  for 
they  died    by    thousands.      The  bodies  were    thrown 
out  into  the  valleys,  where  they  lay  rotting,  a  loath- 
some mass.     Roaming  bands  of  soldiers  went  up  and 
down    the    city  looking  for   food.      When  they  came 
upon  a  man  who  looked  fat  and  well-fed  they  tortured 
him  till  he  told  the  secret  of  his  store  :  to  be  starving   j 
or  to  appear  to  be  starving  was  the  only  safety  ;  and    j 
'  now,'  says  Josephus,  '  all    hope  of  escaping  was  cut 
off  from  the  Jews,  together  with  their  liberty  of  going   j 
out  of  the  city.     Then  did  the  famine  widen  its  pro- 
gress, and  devoured  the  people  by  whole  houses  and 
families  ;    the  upper  rooms  were  full  of   women  and    | 
children  that  were  dying  by  famine,  and  the  lanes  of 
the  city  were  full  of  the  dead  bodies  of  the  aged ;  the    , 
children  also  and  the  young  men  wandered  about  the 
market-places  like  shadows,  all  swelled  with  the  famine, 
and  fell  down  dead  wheresoever  their  misery  seized 
them.     As    for   burying   them,    those    that    were    sick 
themselves  were  not  able  to  do  it  ;  and  those  that  were 
hearty  and  well,  were  deterred  from  doing  it  by  the 
great  multitude  of  those  dead  bodies,  and  by  the  un- 
certainty there  was  how  soon  they  should  die  them- 
selves ;    for  many  died  as  they  were  burying  others, 
and  many  went  to  their  coffins  before  that  fatal  hour 
was   come !     Nor    was   there    any   lamentation    made 
under  these  calamities,  nor  were  heard   any  mournful 
complaints  ;    but    the    famine   confounded  all  natural    : 
•  Joseph.  '  Bell.  Jud.'  v.  ix.  i. 


FAMINE.  33 


ssions ;  for  those  who  were  just  going  to  die,  looked 
ij)on  those  that  were  gone  to  their  rest  before  them 
vith  dry  eyes  and  open  mouths.  A  deep  silence  also, 
ind  a  kind  of  deadly  night,  had  seized  upon  the  city  ; 
vhile  yet  the  robbers  were  still  more  terrible  than  these 
niseries  were  themselves  ;  for  they  brake  open  those 
louses  which  were  no  other  than  graves  of  dead  bodies, 
ind  plundered  them  of  what  they  had  ;  and  carrying 
)ff  the  coverings  of  their  bodies,  went  out  laughing, 
ind  tried  the  points  of  their  swords  on  their  dead 
todies ;  and,  in  order  to  prove  what  mettle  they  were 
nade  of,  they  thrust  some  of  those  through  that  still 
ay  alive  upon  the  ground  ;  but  for  those  that  entreated 
:hem  to  lend  them  their  right  hand,  and  their  sword 
:o  despatch  them,  they  were  too  proud  to  grant  their 
"equests,  and  left  them  to  be  consumed  by  the  famine. 
Now  every  one  of  these  died  with  their  eyes  fixed  upon 
;he  Temple.  Children  pulled  the  very  morsels  that 
r.heir  fathers  were  eating  out  of  their  very  mouths,  and 
vhat  was  still  more  to  be  pitied,  so  did  the  mothers  do 
is  to  their  infants ;  and  when  those  that  were  most 
lear  were  perishing  under  their  hands,  they  were  not 
tshamed  to  take  from  them  the  very  last  drops  that 
night  preserve  their  lives  ;  and  while  they  ate  after 
[his  manner,  yet  were  they  not  concealed  in  so  doing  ; 
)ut  the  seditious  everywhere  came  upon  them  immedi- 
ately, and  snatched  away  from  them  what  they  had 
:otten  from  others ;  for  when  they  saw  any  house  shut 
lip,  this  was  to  them  a  signal  that  the  people  within 
liad  gotten  some  food  :  whereupon  they  broke  open  the 
lloors  and  ran  in,  and  took  pieces  of  what  they  were 
;  ating,  almost  up  out  of  their  very  throats,  and  this 
I  y  force ;  the  old  men,  who  held  their  food  fast,  were 
ieaten ;    and  if  the  women  hid  what  they  had  within 


34  JERUSALEM.  ' 


their  hands,  their  hair  was  torn  for  so  doing;  nor  was 
there  any  commiseration  shown  either  to  the  aged  'or 
to  infants,  but  they  lifted  up  children  from  the  ground 
as  they  hung  upon  the  morsels  they  had  gotten,  and 
shook  them  down  upon  the  floor  ;  but  still  were  they 
more  barbarously  cruel  to  those  that  had  prevented 
their  coming  in,  and  had  actually  swallowed  down 
what  they  were  going  to  seize  upon,  as  if  they  had 
been  unjustly  defrauded  of  their  right.  They  also 
invented  terrible  methods  of  torment  to  discover 
where  any  food  was,  and  a  man  was  forced  to  bear 
what  it  is  terrible  even  to  hear,  in  order  to  make  him 
confess  that  he  had  but  one  loaf  of  bread,  or  that  he 
might  discover  a  handful  of  barley-meal  that  was  con- 
cealed ;  this  was  done  when  these  tormentors  were  not 
themselves  hungry ;  for  the  thing  had  been  less  bar- 
barous had  necessity  forced  them  to  it ;  but  it  was 
done  to  keep  their  madness  in  exercise,  and  as  making 
preparation  of  provisions  for  themselves  for  the  follow- 
ing days.' 

At  night  the  miserable  wretches  would  steal  into  the 
ravines,  those  valleys  where  the  dead  bodies  of  their 
children,  their  wives,  and  kin,  were  lying  in  putrefying 
masses,  to  gather  roots  which  might  serve  for  food.  The 
lot  of  these  was  pitiable  indeed.  If  they  remained  out- 
side they  were  captured  by  the  Romans,  and  crucified, 
sometimes  five  hundred  in  a  morning,  in  full  view  of  the 
battlements :  if  they  went  back  laden  with  a  few  poor 
roots  of  the  earth,  they  were  robbed  by  the  soldiers 
at  the  gate,  and  sent  home  again  to  their  starving 
children,  starving  themselves,  and  unable  to  help  them. 

The  cruelty  of  Titus,  designed  to  terrify  the  Jews,  only 
stimulated  them  to  fresh  courage.  Why,  indeed,  should 
they  surrender?    Death  was  certain  for  all ;  it  was  better 


i 


THE  BANKS  DESTROYED.  35 

tf>  die  fighting,  to  kill  one  of  the  enemy  at  least,  than  to 
4:>£  amid  the  jeers  of  the  triumphant  soldiers.  Besides, 
we  must  remember  that  they  were  defending  their 
sacred  mountain,  their  Temple,  the  place  to  which 
every  Jew's  heart  looked  with  pride  and  fondness, 
whither  turned  the  eyes  of  those  who  died  with  a  sort 
of  sad  reproach.  Simon  and  John  were  united  in  this 
feeling  alone — that  it  was  the  highest  duty  of  a  Jew  to 
fight  for  his  country.  The  portraits  of  these  two  com- 
manders have  been  drawn  by  an  enemy's  hand.  We 
must  remember  that  the  prolonged  resistance  of  the 
Jews  was  a  standing  reproof  to  Josephus,  who  had  been 
defeated,  captured,  and  taken  into  favour.  No  epithets, 
on  his  part,  can  be  too  strong  to  hurl  at  John  and 
Simon.  It  is  impossible  now  to  know  what  were  the 
real  characters  of  these  men,  whether  they  were 
religious  patriots,  or  whether  they  were  filled  with  the 
basest  and  most  selfish  motives.  One  thing  is  quite 
certain  and  may  be  said  of  both :  if  John  hated  Simon 
much,  he  loved  the  city  more.  Neither,  at  the  worst 
moment,  hinted  at  a  surrender  of  the  town  ;  neither 
tried  to  curry  favour  for  himself  by  compassing  the  fall 
of  his  adversary. 

And  the  Jews,  though  emaciated  by  hunger,  reeling 
and  fainting  for  weakness,  were  yet  full  of  courage  and 
resource.  While  Titus  was  spending  seventeen  days  of 
arduous  labour  in  getting  ready  his  new  banks  against 
the  Temple,  the  Jews  were  busy  burrowing  beneath  his 
feet ;  and  when  the  rams  had  been  mounted  and 
already  were  beginning  to  play,  a  subterranean  rum- 
bling was  heard,  and  the  work  of  weeks  fell  suddenly 
to  the  ground. 

'The  Romans  had  much  ado  to  finish  their  banks 
after   labouring   hard    for  seventeen  days  continually. 

3—2 


36  JERUSALEM. 


There  were  now  four  great  banks  raised,  one  of  which 
was  at  the  tower  of  Antonia ;  this  was  raised  by  t  {e 
Fifth  Legion,  over  against  the  middle  of  that  pool  which 
was  called  Struthius.  Another  was  cast  up  by  the 
Twelfth  Legion,  at  the  distance  of  about  twenty  cubits 
from  the  other.  But  the  labours  of  the  ioth  Legion, 
which  lay  a  great  way  off  these,  were  on  the  north 
quarter,  and  at  the  pool  called  Amygdalon;  as  was 
that  of  the  Fifteenth  Legion,  about  thirty  cubits  from 
it,  and  at  the  high  priest's  monument.  And  now,  when 
the  engines  were  brought,  John  had  from  within  under- 
mined the  space  that  was  over  against  the  Tower  of 
Antonia,  as  far  as  the  banks  themselves,  and  had  sup- 
ported the  ground  over  the  mine  with  beams  laid 
across  one  another,  whereby  the  Roman  works  stood 
upon  an  uncertain  foundation.  Then  did  he  order 
such  materials  to  be  brought  in  as  were  daubed  over 
with  pitch  and  bitumen,  and  set  them  on  fire  ;  and  as 
the  cross  beams  that  supported  the  banks  were  burn- 
ing, the  ditch  yielded  on  the  sudden,  and  the  banks 
were  shaken  down,  and  fell  into  the  ditch  with  a 
prodigious  noise.  Now  at  the  first  there  arose  a  very 
thick  smoke  and  dust,  as  the  fire  was  choked  with  the 
fall  of  the  bank ;  but  as  the  suffocated  materials  were 
now  gradually  consumed,  a  flame  brake  out ;  on  which 
sudden  appearance  of  the  flame  a  consternation  fell 
upon  the  Romans,  and  the  shrewdness  of  the  con- 
trivance discouraged  them  ;  and  indeed,  this  accident, 
coming  upon  them  at  a  time  when  they  thought  they 
had  already  gained  their  point,  cooled  their  hopes  for 
the  time  to  come.  They  also  thought  it  would  be  to 
no  purpose  to  take  the  pains  to  extinguish  the  fire 
since,  if  it  were  extinguished,  the  banks  were  swallowec 
up  already  [and  become  useless]  to  them.' 


THE  BANKS  DESTROYED.  57 


A  The  other  banks  against  the  west  wall  were  not  more 
(fortunate.  For  Simon's  soldiers,  with  torches  in  their 
hands,  rushed  out  suddenly  when  the  engines  were 
beginning  to  shake  the  walls.  They  seized  the  iron  of 
the  engines,  which  was  red  hot,  and  despite  this  held 
them  till  the  wood  was  consumed.  The  Romans 
retreated  :  the  guards,  who  would  not  desert  their  post, 
fell  in  numbers,  and  Titus  found  his  whole  army  waver- 
ing under  the  attacks  of  a  half-starved  and  haggard 
mob,  whose  courage  arose  from  despair.  And  the 
engines  had  all  been  burned,  the  labour  of  three  weeks 
gone.  Titus  held  a  council  to  decide  what  should  next 
be  done.  It  was  resolved,  on  his  own  suggestion,  that 
a  wall  of  circumvallation  should  be  raised  round  the 
city,  and  that  a  strict  blockade,  cutting  off  all  com- 
munication with  the  country,  should  be  established, 
until  starvation  should  force  a  surrender. 

The  wall,  which  was  probably  little  more  than  a 
breast-work,  though  strong  and  solid,  was  completed, 
together  with  thirteen  external  redoubts,  in  three  days,* 
every  soldier  giving  his  labour.  No  attempt  seems  to 
have  been  made  by  the  Jews  to  prevent  or  hinder  the 
work.  Probably  they  were  too  weak  to  attempt  any 
more  sorties.  A  strict  watch  was  set  by  the  Romans 
— up  to  this  time  the  blockade  does  not  seem  to  have 
I  been  complete — and  no  one  was  allowed  to  approach 
the  wall.  And  now  the  last  feeble  resort  of  the  Jews, 
the  furtive  gathering  of  roots  under  the  city  walls,  was 
denied  them  ;  and  the  sufferings  of  the  besieged 
became  too  great  for  any  historian  to  relate.  Titus 
himself,  stoic  though  he  was,  and  resolute  to  succeed 

*  This  alone  is  sufficient  to  prove  the  extent  of  Titus's  army. 
An  army  of  thirty  thousand  would  be  utterly  unable  to  accomplish 
such  a  work  in  three  days. 


.612 


38  JERUSALEM. 


in  spite  of  any  suffering,  called  God  to  witness,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  that  this  was  not  his  doing. 

Even  the  obstinacy  of  the  Jews  gave  way  under  these 
sufferings,  and  more  than  one  attempt  was  made  to  in- 
troduce the  Romans.  Matthias  opened  a  communica- 
tion with  the  enemy.  He  was  detected,  and,  with  three 
sons,  was  executed.  One  Judas,  the  son  of  Judas,  who 
was  in  command  of  a  tower  in  the  Upper  City,  con- 
certed with  ten  of  his  men,  and  invited  the  Romans  to 
come  up  and  take  the  tower.  Had  Titus  at  once 
ordered  a  troop  to  mount,  the  Upper  City  might  have 
been  easily  taken.  But  he  had  been  too  often  deceived 
by  feints,  and  hesitated.  The  plot  was  discovered, 
and  Judas,  with  his  ten  fellows,  was  hurled  over  the 
ramparts  at  the  feet  of  the  Romans. 

It  was  then  that  Josephus,  whom  of  all  men  the  be- 
sieged hated,  was  wounded  in  the  head,  but  not 
seriously,  by  a  stone.  The  Jews  made  a  tremendous 
acclamation  at  seeing  this,  and  sallied  forth  for  a  sortie, 
in  the  excess  of  their  joy.  Josephus,  senseless,  was 
taken  up  and  conveyed  away,  but  the  next  day  re- 
appeared and  once  more  offered  the  clemency  of  Titus 
to  those  who  would  come  out.  The  hatred  which  his 
countrymen  bore  to  Josephus,  as  to  an  apostate, 
natural  enough,  shows  remarkably  the  love  of  justice 
which  in  all  times  has  distinguished  the  Jew.  His 
father  and  mother  were  in  the  city.  They  were  not, 
till  late  in  the  siege,  interfered  with  in  any  way :  and 
his  father  was  set  in  prison  at  last,  more,  apparently, 
to  vex  his  son  than  with  any  idea  of  doing  him  an 
injury.* 

*  Josephus  narrates  how  his  mother  wept  at  the  false  report  of 
his  death,  and  quotes  with  complacency  her  lamentation  that  she. 
had  brought  so  distinguished  a  man  into  the  world  for  so  early  a 
death. 


DESERTERS.  39 


(The  miserable  state  of  the  city  drove  hundreds  to 
insert.  They  came  down  from  the  walls,  or  they  made 
\  pretended  sortie  and  passed  over  to  the  Romans  ;  but 
here  a  worse  fate  accompanied  them,  in  spite  of 
Josephus's  promises,  for  Josephus  had  not  reckoned  on 
the  expectation  that  the  Jews,  famishing  and  mad  for 
food,  would,  as  proved  the  case,  cause  their  own  death 
by  over-eating  at  first.  And  a  more  terrible  danger 
awaited  them.  It  was  rumoured  about  that  the 
deserters  swallowed  their  gold  before  leaving  the  city, 
and  the  auxiliaries  in  the  Roman  camp,  Arabians  and 
Syrians,  seized  the  suppliants,  and  fairly  cut  them  open 
to  find  the  gold.  And  though  Titus  was  incensed  when 
he  heard  of  it,  and  prohibited  it  strictly,  he  could  not 
wholly  stop  the  practice,  and  the  knowledge  of  this 
cruelty  getting  into  the  city  stopped  many  who  would 
otherwise  have  escaped  :  they  remained  to  die.  One 
of  those  who  kept  the  register  of  burials  and  paid 
the  bearers  of  the  dead,  told  Josephus  that  out  of 
his  gate  alone  115,880  bodies  had  been  thrown  since 
the  siege  began,  and  many  citizens,  whose  word  could 
be  depended  on,  estimated  the  number  who  had  died  at 
600,000. 

Banks,  meanwhile,  were  gradually  rising  against  the 
fortress  of  Antonia.  The  Romans  had  swept  the 
country  clear  of  trees  for  ninety  furlongs  round  to  find 
timber  for  their  construction  :  they  took  twenty-one 
days  to  complete,  and  were  four  in  number.  The 
besieged  no  longer  made  the  same  resistance.  Their 
courage,  says  Josephus,  was  no  longer  Jewish,  'for  they 
failed  in  what  is  peculiar  to  our  nation,  in  boldness, 
violence  of  assault,  and  running  upon  the  enemy  all 
together  .  .  .  but  they  now  went  out  in  a  more  languid 
manner   than    before  .  .  .   and   they   reproached    one 


4o  JERUSALEM. 


another  for  cowardice,  and  so  retired  without  doing 
anything.'  The  attacks  of  the  enemy  were,  however, 
courageously  repulsed.  For  a  whole  day  the  Romans 
endeavoured  with  rams  to  shake  the  wall,  and  with 
crows  and  picks  to  undermine  its  foundations.  Dark- 
ness made  them  withdraw,  and  during  the  night  the 
wall,  which  had  been  grievously  shaken,  fell  of  its  own 
accord. 

But  even  this  calamity  had  been  foreseen  by  the  de- 
fenders, and,  to  the  astonishment  and  even  dismay  ot 
Titus,  a  new  wall  was  found  built  up  behind  the  old, 
and  the  Jews  upon  it,  ready  to  defend  it  with  their  old 
spirit.  Titus  exhorted  his  soldiers,  who  were  getting 
dejected  at  the  renewal  of  the  enemy's  obstinacy,  and 
offered  the  highest  rewards  to  him  who  would  first 
mount  the  wall.  His  exhortation,  like  the  rest  of  the 
speeches  in  Josephus,  is  written  after  the  grand  historic 
style,  and  embodies  all  those  sentiments  which  a  general 
ought  to  feel  under  the  circumstances,  together  with  a 
verbosity  and  length  quite  sufficient  to  deprive  it  of  all 
hortatory  effect. 

One  Sabinus,  with  only  eleven  others,  made  the 
attempt.  He  alone  reached  the  top  of  the  wall,  and 
after  a  gallant  fight  was  killed  by  the  Jews.  His 
followers  were  also  either  killed  or  wounded.  Two 
days  afterwards  '  twelve  of  the  men  who  were  in  the 
front,'  to  give  the  story  in  Josephus's  own  words,  '  got 
together,  and  calling  to  them  the  standard-bearer  of 
the  Fifth  Legion  and  two  others  of  a  troop  of  horse, 
and  one  trumpeter,  went  out  noiselessly  about  the  ninth 
hour  of  the  night  through  the  ruins  to  the  tower  of 
Antonia.  They  found  the  guards  of  the  place  asleep,  cut 
their  throats,  got  possession  of  the  wall,  and  ordered 
the  trumpeter  to  sound  his  trumpet.     Upon  this  the 


FAILURE  OF  THE  DAILY  SACRIFICE.  41 


re^t  of  the  guard  got  up  suddenly  and  ran  away  before 
anybody  could  see  how  many  they  were  who  had  got 
into  the  tower.'  Titus  heard  the  signal  and  came  to 
the  place.  The  Jews,  in  their  haste  to  escape,  fell 
themselves  into  the  mine  which  John  had  dug  under 
the  barks  ;  they  rallied  again,  however,  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Temple,  and  the  most  determined  fight,  in  a 
narrow  and  confined  space,  took  place  there.  The 
Temple  was  not  to  fall  quite  yet,  and  after  a  whole  day's 
battle  the  Romans  had  to  fall  back,  masters,  however, 
of  Antonia. 

But  on  that  very  day  the  daily  sacrifice  failed 
for  the  first  time,  and  with  it  the  spirit  of  the 
starving  besieged. 

The  end,  now,  was  not  far  off.  In  seven  days 
nearly  the  whole  of  Antonia,  excepting  the  south-east 
tower,  was  pulled  down,  and  a  broad  way  was  opened 
for  the  Roman  army  to  march  to  the  attack  of  the 
Temple. 

And  now  many  of  the  priests  and  higher  classes  de- 
serted the  falling  city  and  threw  themselves  upon  the 
clemency  of  Titus.  They  were  received  with  kindness 
and  sent  to  Gophna.  John's  last  resource  was  to  pre- 
tend they  had  all  been  murdered,  and  Titus  was  obliged 
to  parade  them  before  the  walls  to  satisfy  the  suspicions 
thus  raised. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  take  the  Temple  by  a  night 
attack.  This,  however,  failed,  and  Titus  foresaw  the 
necessity  of  raising  new  banks.  Fighting  went  on 
daily  in  the  cloisters,  until  the  Jews  set  fire  to  them, 
and  occasional  sorties  were  made  by  the  besieged  in 
hopes  to  catch  the  enemy  at  unguarded  moments. 

The  banks  were  finished  on  the  1st  of  August. 
Titus   ordered   that   they  should  be  brought  and  set 


42  JERUSALEM.  I 

: : 7  l 

over  against  the  western  wall  of  the  inner  Temper 
For  six  days  the  battering-rams  played  against  thi 
masonry  of  the  inner  Temple,  for  by  this  time  th[^ 
beautiful  cloisters  which  surrounded  it,  and  ran  fronf 
east  to  west,  were  all  destroyed,  and  the  inner  Templet 
a  fortress  in  itself,  stood  naked  and  alone,  tne  last 
refuge  of  John  and  his  men.  Had  they  yielded,  this 
at  least  would  have  been  spared.  But  it  was  not  to 
be.  With  a  pertinacity  which  had  no  longer  any  hope 
in  it  the  obstinate  zealots  held  out.  On  the  north  side 
the  Romans  undermined  the  gate,  but  could  not  bring 
it  down  ;  they  brought  ladders  and  endeavoured  to 
tunnel  the  wall.  The  Jews  allowed  them  to  mount, 
and  then  killed  every  one  and  captured  their  ensigns. 
And  thus  it  was  that  Titus,  fearing,  perhaps,  that  the 
spirit  of  his  own  troops  would  give  way,  ordered  the 
northern  gate  to  be  set  on  fire.  This  was  done,  and  the 
cloisters,  not  those  of  the  outer  court,  but  of  the  inner, 
were  soon  destroyed.  But  Titus  resolved  still  to  save 
the  Holy  of  Holies. 

It  was  the  day  on  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had 
burned  the  Temple  of  Solomon.  The  Jews  made 
another  sortie,  their  last  but  one.  They  could  effect 
nothing,  and  retired  after  five  hours'  fighting  into  their 
stronghold,  the  desecrated  Temple,  on  whose  altar  no 
more  sacrifices  were  now  made,  or  ever  would  be  made 
again. 

Titus  retired  to  Antonia,  resolving  to  take  the  place 
the  next  day  ;  but  the  Jews  would  not  wait  so  long. 
They  made  a  last  sortie,  which  was  ineffectual. 
'  The  Romans  put  the  Jews  to  flight,  and  proceeded  as 
far  as  the  Holy  House  itself.  At  which  time  one  of 
the  soldiers,  without  staying  for  any  orders,  and  without 
any  concern  or  dread  upon  him  at  so  great  an  under- 


BURNING  OF  THE  TEMPLE.  43 

— ,;  .  .         .  . 

t  img,  and  being  hurried  on  by  a  certain  divine  fury, 
iektched  somewhat  out  of  the  materials  that  were  on 
1  *e,  and  being  lifted  up  by  another  soldier,  set  fire  to  a 
'tolden  window,  through  which  there  was  a  passage  to 
tie  rooms  that  were  round  about  the  Holy  House,  on 
the  north  side  of  it.  As  the  flames  went  upward  the 
Jews  made  a  great  clamour,  such  as  so  mighty  an 
affliction  required,  and  ran  together  to  prevent  it ; 
and  now  they  spared  not  their  lives  any  longer,  nor 
suffered  anything  to  restrain  their  force,  since  that  Holy 
House  was  perishing,  for  whose  sake  it  was  that  they 
kept  such  a  guard  about  it.'* 

Titus,  with  all  his  staff,  hastened  to  save  what  he 
could.  He  exhorted  the  soldiers  to  spare  the  building. 
He  stood  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  itself,  and  beat  back 
the  soldiers  who  were  pressing  to  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion. But  in  vain :  one  of  the  soldiers  threw  a  torch 
upon  the  gateway  of  the  sanctuary,  and  in  a  moment 
the  fate  of  the  building  was  sealed.  And  while  the 
flames  mounted  higher  the  carnage  of  the  poor  wretches 
within  went  on.  None  was  spared  ;  ten  thousand 
were  killed  that  were  found  there — children,  old  men, 
priests  and  profane  persons,  all  alike ;  six  thousand 
fled  to  the  roof  of  the  royal  cloister,  that  glorious 
building  which  crowned  the  Temple  wall  to  the  south, 
stretching  from  '  Robinson's  Arch  '  to  the  valley  of  the 
Kedron.  The  Romans  fired  that  too,  and  the  whole  of 
the  multitude  perished  together. 

'  One  would  have  thought  that  the  hill  itself,  on 
which  the  Temple  stood,  was  seething  hot,  full  of  fire 
in  every  part  ;  that  the  blood  was  larger  in  quantity 
than  the  fire ;  and  those  that  were  slain  more  in 
number  than  those  that  slew  them,  for  the  ground  no- 
*  Joseph,  vi.  iv.  5. 


•    M 


44  JERUSALEM, 


where  appeared  visible  for  the  dead  bodies  that  lay  '<a'*° 
it ;  but  the  soldiers  went  over  heaps  of  these  bodies  f  a 
they  ran  after  such  as  fled  from  them.'* 

The  really  guilty  among  the  Jews,  the  fighting  men> 
had  cut  their  way  through  the  Romans  and  fled  to  the 
Upper  City.  A  few  priests  either  hid  themselves  in 
secret  chambers  or  crouched  upon  the  top  of  the  wall. 
On  the  fifth  day  they  surrendered,  being  starving. 
Titus  ordered  them  to  execution. 

And  so  the  Temple  of  Herod  fell. 

The  Roman  army  flocked  into  the  ruins  of  the 
Temple  which  it  had  cost  them  so  many  lives  to  take  ; 
sacrifices  were  offered,  and  Titus  was  saluted  as  Im- 
perator.  An  immense  spoil  was  found  there,  not  only 
from  the  sacred  vessels  of  gold,  but  from  the  treasury, 
in  which  vast  sums  had  been  accumulated.  The  upper 
town,  Zion,  still  held  out.  Titus  demanded  a  parley. 
Standing  on  that  bridge,  the  ruined  stones  of  which 
were  found  by  Warren  lying  eighty  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  he  for  the  last  time  offered 
terms  to  the  insurgents.  He  explained  that  they  could 
no  longer  entertain  any  hope,  even  the  slightest,  of 
safety,  and  renewed  his  offers  of  clemency  to  those  who 
should  yield. 

But  the  offers  of  Titus  were  supposed  to  be  the  effect 
of  weakness.  Again  the  insurgents,  now  indeed  pos- 
sessed with  a  divine  madness,  declined  them.  They 
demanded  that  they  might  be  allowed  to  march  out 
with  all  their  arms,  and  what  would  now  be  called  the 
honours  of  war.  This  proposition  from  a  handful  of 
starved  soldiers  surrounded  by  the  ruins  of  all  that  they 
held  dear,  with  a  triumphant  army  on  all  sides,  was  too 
monstrous  to  be  accepted  even  by  the  most  clement  of 
*  Joseph.  Bell.  Jud.  vi.  v.  i. 


I 


THE  LAST  SCENE.  45 

. . 

jonquerors,  and  Titus  resolved  with  reluctance  on  the 
destruction  of  the  whole  people.  The  royal  family  of 
Adiabene,  descendants  of  Queen  Helena,  had  not  left 
Jerusalem  during  the  siege ;  on  the  contrary,  they  had 
lent  every  aid  in  their  power  to  the  Jews.  Now,  how- 
ever, seeing  that  no  hope  was  to  be  got  from  any  but 
Titus,  they  went  over  in  a  body  to  the  Romans  and 
prayed  for  mercy.  Out  of  consideration  for  their 
royal  blood  this  was  granted.  But  the  Jews  revenged 
the  fainthearted  conduct  of  these  royal  proselytes  by 
an  incursion  into  the  lower  New  Town  (on  the  Hill  of 
Ophel),  burning  their  palace  and  sacking  the  rest  of 
'the  town.  The  last  part  of  the  siege,  which  Mr.  Lewin 
finely  calls  the  fifth  act  of  a  bloody  tragedy,  was  com- 
menced by  the  usual  methods  of  raising  banks,  all 
attempts  to  carry  the  Upper  City  by  assault  being 
hopeless.  These  were  raised  over  against  the  Palace 
jof  Herod  on  the  west,  and  at  a  point  probably  op- 
posite Robinson's  Arch  in  the  east.  And  now,  at  the 
last  moment,  no  longer  sustained  by  any  hopes  of 
miraculous  interference — for  if  their  God  had  allowed 
His  Temple  to  fall,  why  should  He  be  expected  to  spare 
the  citadel  ? — the  Jews  lost  all  courage  and  began  to 
desert  in  vast  numbers.  The  Idumaeans,  finding  that 
Simon  and  John  remained  firm  in  their  resolution  of 
defence  to  the  last,  sent  five  of  their  chiefs  to  open 
negotiations  on  their  own  account.  Simon  and  John 
discovered  the  plot  ;  the  five  commissioners  were 
executed  ;  care  was  taken  to  entrust  the  walls  to  trusty 
guards ;  but  thousands  of  the  people  managed  to 
escape.  The  Romans  began  by  slaying  the  fugitives, 
but,  tired  of  slaughter,  reserved  them  as  prisoners  to 
be  sold  for  slaves.  Those  who  were  too  old  or  too  worn 
out  by  suffering  to  be  of  any  use  they  sent  away  to 


46  JERUSALEM. 


wander  about  the  mountains,  and  live  or  die.  (/pne 
priest  obtained  his  life  by  giving  up  to  Titus  the  sacued 
vessels  of  the  Temple,  and  another  by  showing  wh  ere 
the  treasures  were — the  vestments  of  the  priests,  arnd 
the  vast  stores  of  spices  which  had  been  used  for 
burning  incense  daily. 

It  took  eighteen  days  to  complete  the  siege- 
works.     At  last  the  banks  were  ready  to  receive 
the  battering-rams,  and  these  were  placed  in  position. 
But   little    defence    was    made.       Panic-stricken   and 
cowering,  the  hapless  Jews  awaited  the  breach  in  the 
wall,  and   the    incoming   of  the    enemy.     Simon    and 
John,  with  what  force  they  could   collect,  abandoned 
the   towers,    and  rushed  to    attempt  an    escape    over 
Titus's  wall  of  circumvallation  at  the  south.     It  was 
hopeless.      They   were  beaten   back ;    the  leaders  hid 
themselves  in  the  subterranean  chambers  with  which 
Jerusalem  was  honeycombed,  and  the  rest  stood  still  to 
be  killed.     The  Romans,  pouring  into  the  town,  began 
by   slaying  all  indiscriminately.     Tiring   of  butchery, 
they  turned  their  thoughts  to  plunder  ;  but  the  houses 
were  filled  with  dead  and  putrefying  corpses,  so  that 
they  stood  in  horror  at  the  sight,  and  went  out  without 
touching  anything.     'But  although  they  had  this  com- 
miseration for  such  as  were  destroyed  in  this  manner, 
yet  had  they  not   the   same  for  those  that   were   still 
alive  ;  and  they  ran  everyone  through  whom  they  met 
with,  and  obstructed  the  streets  with  dead  bodies,  and 
made  the  whole  city  run  with  blood  to  such  a  degree, 
indeed,  that  the  fire  of  many  of  the  houses  was  quenched 
with  their  men's  blood.' 

And  then  they  set  fire  to  the  houses,  and  all  was  over. 

As  for  the  prisoners  who  remained  alive,  they  were 
destined    to    the    usual    fate    of  slaves.      To  fight    as 


SIMON  AND  JOHN.  47 


gladiators  ;  to  afford  sport  among  the  wild  beasts  in 
the  theatres  ;  and  to  work  for  life  in  the  mines,  was 
their  miserable  lot.  Woe,  indeed,  to  the  conquered 
in  those  old  wars,  where  defeat  meant  death,  whose 
least  cruel  form  was  the  stroke  of  the  headsman,  or, 
worse  than  death,  life,  whose  least  miserable  portion 
was  perpetual  slavery  in  the  mines  !  It  would  have 
been  well  had  Josephus,  after  narrating  the  scenes 
which  he  tells  so  well,  gone  to  visit  these  his  miser- 
able fellow-countrymen  in  slavery,  and  described  for 
us,  if  he  could,  the  wretchedness  of  their  after-life, 
the  unspeakable  degradation  and  misery  which  the 
Jew,  more  than  any  other  man,  would  feel  in  his  condi- 
tion of  slavery.  Their  history  began  with  the  slavery 
in  Egypt :  to  these  unfortunate  captives  it  would  seem 
as  if  it  was  also  to  end  with  slavery  in  Egypt. 

The  Romans,  knowing  that  Jerusalem  had  a  sort  of 
subterranean  city  of  excavated  chambers  beneath  it, 
proceeded  to  search  for  hiding  insurgents  and  for 
hidden  wealth.  The  chambers  were,  like  the  houses, 
often  full  of  dead  bodies.  They  found  fugitives  in  some 
of  them ;  these  they  put  to  death.  In  others  they 
found  treasure  ;  in  others  they  found  corpses. 

Simon  and  John  were  not  among  the  prisoners,  nor 
were  they  among  the  killed.  John,  several  days  after 
the  capture  of  the  city,  came  out  voluntarily  from  his 
hiding-place,  and  gave  himself  up  to  Titus.  He  was 
reserved  for  the  triumph.  And  then  came  the  grand 
day  of  rejoicing  for  the  conquerors.  Titus  made  a  long 
and  laudatory  oration  to  the  army,  adjudged  promo- 
tions, coronets,  necklaces,  and  other  prizes  of  valour, 
and  with  lavish  hand  distributed  the  spoils  among  his 
soldiers.  For  three  days  the  troops  banqueted  and 
rejoiced.     Then  Titus  broke  up  his  camp,  and  departed 


48  JERUSALEM.  j 

for  Csesarea  with  the  Fifth  and  Fifteenth  Legio/'ns, 
leaving  the  Tenth,  under  Terentius  Rufus,  to  gukrd 
the  city,  and  sending  the  Twelfth  to  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates.* 

It  was  not  till  October  that  Simon  gave  himself  up. 
To  prevent  being  killed  at  once,  he  emerged  by  night 
from  his  hiding-place  dressed  in  a  long  white  robe,  so 
that  the  astonished  soldiers  took  him  for  a  ghost.  '  I 
am  Simon,  son  of  Gioras,'  he  cried.  '  Call  hither  your 
general.'  Terentius  received  him  as  a  prisoner,  and 
sent  him  to  Titus. 

One  of  the  most  important  things  in  the  conduct  of 
a  triumph  at  Rome  was  the  execution  of  the  general 
of  the  vanquished  army.  Titus  had  both  generals  to 
grace  his  procession.  He  assigned  to  Simon  the  post 
of  honour.  At  the  foot  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  the 
intrepid  Jew  was  led  to  the  block,  with  a  halter  round 
his  neck,  and  scourged  cruelly.  He  met  his  death  with 
the  same  undaunted  courage  as  he  had  defended  his 
city.     John  of  Giscala  remained  a  prisoner  for  life. 

No  historian,  except  perhaps  Milman,  whose  sym- 
pathies are  ever  with  the  fallen  cause,  seems  to  us  to 
have  done  justice,  not  only  to  the  bravery  and  heroism 
of  the  Jews,  but  also  to  the  heroism  of  their  leaders. 
Their  leaders  have  been  described  by  an  enemy  and  a 
rival — that  Josephus,  son  of  Matthias,  who,  after  making 
an  heroic  resistance  at  Jotapata,  obtained  his  life  by 
pretending  to  be  a  prophet,  and  continued  in  favour 
with  the  conquerors  by  exhorting  his  fellow-countrymen 
to  submission.  That  Simon  and  John  were  men  stained 
with  blood,  violent,  headstrong,  we  know  well ;  but  it  is 
by  no  means  certain  that  they  were  so  bad  and  worth- 
less as  Josephus  would  have  us  to  believe.  After  the 
*  Joseph,  vii.  v.  3. 


THE  SACREDNESS  OF  HIE  SITE.  49 

siege  fairly  began,  they  united  their  forces  :  we  hear  no 
more  of  the  faction-fights.  If  their  soldiers  committed 
excesses  and  cruelties,  they  were  chiefly  for  food  ;  a^d 
everything  had  to  give  way  to  the  preservation  of  the 
defenders.  Moreover,  discipline  was  not  thought  of 
among  the  Jews,  whose  notion  of  fighting  was  chiefly  a 
blind  and  headlong  rush.  But  we  must  again  recall 
the  religious  side  of  the  defence.  To  the  Jew  his 
Temple  was  more,  far  more,  than  even  Mecca  can  be  to 
a  Mohammedan.  It  had  traditions  far  higher  and 
more  divine.  The  awful  presence  of  Jehovah  had  filled 
the  sanctuary  as  with  a  cloud.  His  angels  had  been 
seen  on  the  sacred  hill.  There,  for  generation  after 
generation,  the  sacrifice  had  been  offered,  the  feast 
kept,  the  unsullied  faith  maintained.  The  Temple  was 
a  standing  monument  to  remind  them  by  whose  aid  / 
they  had  escaped  captivity ;  it  taught  them  perpetually 
that  freedom  was  the  noblest  thing  a  man  can  have  ;  it 
was  the  glorious  memorial  of  a  glorious  history  ;  it  was 
a  reminder  that  theirs  was  a  nation  set  apart  from  the 
rest  of  the  world.  To  defend  the  Temple  from  outrage 
and  pollution  was  indeed  the  bounden  duty  of  every 
Jew.  And  these  Romans,  what  would  they  do  with  it  ? 
Had  they  not  the  keys  of  the  treasury  where  the  vest- 
ments of  the  priests  were  laid  up  ?  Had  not  one  of 
their  emperors  ordered  a  statue  of  himself  to  be  set  up, 
an  impious  idol,  in  the  very  Holy  of  Holies  ? 

A  handful  of  men,  they  offered  war  to  the  mistress  of 
the  world.  True,  the  insurgents  were  rude  and  un- 
lettered, who  knew  nothing  of  Rome  and  her  power. 
Even  if  they  had  known  all  that  Rome  could  do,  it 
would  have  mattered  nothing,  for  they  were  fighting  for 
the  defence  of  all  that  made  life  sweet  to  them  ;  and  . 
they  were  sustained  by  false  prophets,  poor  brainstruck 

4 


^°  ^_________         JERUSALEM. 


V1S1°   \a      '  ^no  saw  the  things  they  wished  to  see,  and 
6    a   what    they  wished    to    happen.     God    might 
.u'erfere  ;  the  mighty  arm  which  had  protected  them  of 
old    might   protect    them    again.     The   camp    of    the 
Romans  might   be   destroyed    like    the   camp   of   the 
Assyrians  ;  and  because  these  things  might  happen,  it 
was  a  natural  step,  to  an  excited  and  imaginative  people, 
to  prophesy  that  they  would   happen.     But  when  the 
time  passed  by,  when  none  of   these  things  came  to 
pass,  and  the  deluded  multitude  hoped  that  submission 
would  bring  safety  at  least,  the  tenacity  of  their  leaders 
held   them  chained  to  a  hopeless    defence.     Whether 
Simon  and  John  fought  on  with  a  stronger  faith,  and 
still   in    hope   that   the    arm    of    the    Lord   would    be 
stretched    out,   or  whether   they  fought   on    with   the 
desperate  courage  of  soldiers  who  preferred  death  by 
battle  to  death  by  execution,  it  is  impossible  now  to  say. 
It  has  been   suggested    by  Josephus,  as  well  as  by 
modern  writers,    that   the    courage  of  the   Jews  was 
shaken   by  predictions,  omens,    and    rumours ;  but  if 
there  were  predictions  of  disaster,  there  were  also  pre- 
dictions   of    triumph.     If    Jesus,   whom  a   few  called 
Christ,  had  prophesied  the  coming  fall  of  the  city,  there 
were  others  who  had  announced  the  fall  of  the  enemy. 
Omens  could  be  read  either  way.     If  a  sword-shaped 
comet  hung  in  the  sky,  who  could  deny  that  the  sword 
impended  over  the  heads  of  the  Romans  ?     And  when 
the  gate  of  the  Temple  flew  open,  might  it  not  announce 
the  opening  of  the  gates  for  the  triumph  of  the  faithful  ? 
In    such    a   wild,    unsettled    time,    when    there    was 
nothing  certain,  nothing  stable,  the  very  faith  of  the 
people   might   be   intensified   by   these   prophecies   of 
disaster ;  their  courage  might  be  strengthened   by  the 
gloomy  foretellers  of  defeat.     The  Trojans  fought  none 


FAITH  OF  THE  JEWS.  51 

the  worse  because  Cassandra  was  with  them  ;  so  the 
Jews  fought  none  the  worse  because  voices  were 
whispering  among  them  the  prophecies  of  Him  whom 
some  recognised  as  the  Messiah. 

Let  us,  at  least,  award  them  the  meed  of  praise  for 
a  courage  which  has  never  been  equalled.  Let  us 
acknowledge  that,  in  all  the  history  of  the  world,  if 
there  has  been  no  siege  more  blood}7  and  tragic,  so 
there  has  been  no  city  more  fiercely  contested,  more 
obstinately  defended;  and  though  we  may  believe  that 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem  had  been  distinctly  prophesied  by 
our  Lord,  we  must  not  therefore  look  on  the  Jews  as 
the  blind  and  fated  victims  of  prophecy.  The  city  fell? 
not  in  order  to  fulfil  prophecy,  but  because  the  Jews 
were,  as  they  ever  had  been,  a  turbulent,  self-willed 
race  ;  because  they  were  undisciplined  ;  because  they 
loved  freedom  above  everything  else  in  the  world, 
except  their  religion  ;  and  their  religion  was  the  ritual 
and  the  Temple. 


4—2 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM    TITUS   TO    OMAR. 

'Wild  Hours,  that  fly  with  hope  and  fear, 
If  all  your  office  had  to  do 
With  old  results  that  look  like  new, 
If  this  were  all  your  mission  here, 

'  To  draw,  to  sheathe  a  useless  sword, 
To  fool  the  crowd  with  glorious  lies, 
To  cleave  a  creed  in  sects  and  cries, 
To  change  the  bearing  of  a  word. 
*  *  ■*  *  # 

'  Why  then  my  scorn  might  well  descend 
On  you  and  yours.     I  see  in  part 
That  all,  as  in  some  piece  of  art, 
Is  toil  co-operant  to  an  end.' 

In  Memoriam. 

Its  Temple  destroyed,  its  people  killed,  led  captive,  or 
dispersed,  Jerusalem  must  have  presented,  for  the  next 
fifty  years,  at  least,  a  dreary  and  desolate  appearance. 
At  first  its  only  inhabitants  were  the  Roman  garrison, 
but  gradually  the  Jews  came  dropping  in,  at  first,  we 
may  suppose,  on  sufferance  and  good  behaviour.  When 
the  Christians  returned  is  not  certain.  Eusebius  says 
that  directly  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  they 
assembled  together  and  chose  Simeon  as  their  bishop  ; 
but  he  does  not  say  that  they  gathered  together  in 
Jerusalem.  All  the  traditions  represent  them  as  return- 
ing very  soon  after  the  siege.  As  for  the  Jews,  the 
destruction  of  the  Temple — that  symbol  of  the  Law — 
only  made  them  more  scrupulous  in  their  obedience  to 


THE  RABBIS.  53 


the  Law.  The  great  school  of  Gamaliel  was  set  up  at 
Jabneh,  where  lectures  were  delivered  on  all  the 
minutiae  of  Rabbinical  teaching,  and  the  Jews  were  in- 
structed how  to  win  the  favour  of  Jehovah  by  carrying 
out  to  its  last  letter  the  smallest  details  of  the  Law. 
And  because  this,  minute  as  it  was,  did  not  compre- 
hend all  the  details  of  life,  there  arose  a  caste,  re- 
cruited from  all  tribes  and  families  alike,  which  became 
more  holy  than  that  of  the  priests  and  Levites — the 
caste  of  the  Rabbis,  the  students  and  interpreters  of 
the  Law.  The  Rabbi  had,  besides  the  written  law,  the 
Tradition,  Masora,  or  Cabala,  which  was  pretended  to 
have  been  also  given  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  to 
have  been  handed  down  in  an  unbroken  line  through 
the  heads  of  the  Sanhedrim.  The  growth  of  the  Rab- 
binical power  does  not  date  from  the  destruction  of  the 
Temple  ;  it  had  been  slowly  developing  itself  for  many 
centuries  before  that  event.  In  the  synagogues  which 
were  scattered  all  over  Palestine,  and  wherever  the 
Jews  could  be  got  together,  the  learned  Rabbi,  with 
his  profound  knowledge  of  the  Law,  written  and  oral, 
had  already,  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  taken 
the  place  of  the  priests  and  their  sacrifices ;  so  that,  in 
spite  of  the  fall  of  the  Temple,  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Jews  was  by  no  means  crushed  out  of  them.  Rather 
was  it  deepened  and  intensified,  and  their  religious 
observances  more  and  more  invaded  the  material  life. 
The  Rabbinical  tribunals  usurped  entire  rule  over  the 
Jews.  Like  the  Scotch  elders,  they  had  power  to 
summon  before  them  persons  accused  of  immorality, 
persons  who  neglected  their  children,  persons  who 
violated  details  of  the  Law.  They  could  also  impose 
on  offenders  punishment  by  scourging,  by  censure,  by 
interdict,  by  the  cherem,   or   excommunication,  which 


54  JERUSALEM. 


inflicted  civil  death,  but  for  which  pardon  might  be  ob- 
tained on  repentance  and  submission,  and  lastly,  by  the 
fatal  shammata,  the  final  curse,  after  which  there  was  no 
pardon  possible  :  '  Let  nothing  good  come  out  of  him  ; 
let  his  end  be  sudden  ;  let  all  creatures  become  his 
enemies  ;  let  the  whirlwind  crush  him ;  let  fever  and 
every  other  malady,  and  the  edge  of  the  sword,  smite 
him  ;  let  his  death  be  unforeseen,  and  drive  him  into 
outer  darkness.'*  With  this  machinery  of  internal 
government,  the  Jews  were  not  only  united  together 
and  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  in  each  par- 
ticular town,  not  only  did  they  maintain  their  nation- 
ality and  their  religion,  but,  which  was  of  much  more 
importance  to  their  conquerors,  they  were  able  to  act 
in  concert  with  each  other,  to  demand  redress  together, 
to  give  help  to  each  other,  to  rise  in  revolt  together. 

As  for  their  treatment  by  the  Romans,  it  is  not 
certain  that  they  were  at  first  persecuted  at  all.  A  tax 
of  two  drachms  was  levied  by  Vespasian  on  every  Jew 
for  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Capito- 
linus,  and  was  exacted  with  the  greatest  rigour.  He 
also  searched  everywhere  for  descendants  of  the  House 
of  David,  in  order  to  extinguish  the  royal  line  alto- 
gether ;  otherwise  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that 
the  Jews  were  ill-treated  by  the  conquerors,  but  rather 
the  contrary,  because  the  policy  of  the  Romans 
was  always  to  treat  the  conquered  nations  with  con- 
sideration and  humanity,  and  to  extend  to  them  the 
privilege  of  citizenship.  But  whether  they  were  perse- 
cuted or  not,  and  whatever  the  cause,  the  whole  of  the 
Jews  in  Egypt,  Cyrene,  Babylonia,  and  Judaea,  rose  in 
universal  revolt  in  the  time  of  Trajan.  Perhaps  they 
had  experienced  some  affront  to  their  religion  ;  perhaps 
*  Milman,  '  Hist,  of  the  Jews,'  iii.  146. 


HOSTILITY  OF  THE  JEWS.  55 

they  had  been  persecuted  with  the  Christians;  perhaps 
they  expected  the  Messiah ;  perhaps  their  fanatical 
and  turbulent  spirit  was  the  cause  of  the  rising ;  per- 
haps the  stories  told  in  the  Rabbinical  accounts  contain 
some  truth.  In  these  it  is  related  how  the  birthday  of 
an  Imperial  Prince  fell  on  the  gth  of  August,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  Jews  in 
Rome  were  wailing  and  lamenting  while  the  rest  of  the 
world  was  rejoicing.  Also,  on  another  occasion,  while 
the  Imperial  family  were  lamenting  the  death  of  a 
daughter,  the  Jews  were  celebrating,  with  the  cus- 
tomary semblance  of  joy,  their  Feast  of  Lamps.  Heavy 
persecution  followed  these  unfortunate  coincidences. 

The  hostility  of  the  Jews  was  manifested  against  the 
Greeks  rather  than  against  the  Romans.  In  Alexandria 
the  Greeks  massacred  all  the  Jews.  In  return  the 
Jews,  under  Lucuas  and  Andrew,  spread  themselves 
over  the  whole  of  Lower  Egypt,  and  perpetrated 
ghastly  atrocities.  The  Roman  Governor,  meantime, 
could  do  nothing  for  want  of  troops.  In  Cyprus  the 
Jews  are  said  to  have  killed  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Hadrian  came  to 
their  rescue,  and  fairly  swept  the  insurgents  out  of  the 
island,  where  in  memory  of  these  troubles  no  Jew  has 
ever  since  been  allowed  to  reside.  Martius  Turbo 
quieted  the  insurrection  in  Cyrene,  and  then  marched 
into  Egypt,  where  he  found  Lucuas  at  the  head  of  an 
enormous  army.  Mindful,  as  all  Jewish  insurgents,  of 
his  people's  traditions,  and  no  doubt  hoping  for  another 
miracle,  Lucuas  tried  to  pass  by  way  of  Suez  into 
Palestine  ;  but,  no  miracle  being  interposed,  he  and 
his  men  were  all  cut  to  pieces.  Then  the  Jews  of 
Mesopotamia  rose  in  their  turn,  impatient  of  a  change 
of  masters  which  gave  them  the  cold  and  stern  Roman, 


56  JERUSALEM. 

in  place  of  their  friends,  and  sometimes  co-religionists, 
the  Parthians.  The  revolt  was  quelled  by  Lucius 
Quietus,  who  was  appointed  to  the  government  of 
Judaea  ;  and  when  Trajan  died,  and  Hadrian  ascended 
the  throne,  all  the  conquests  in  the  East  beyond  the 
Euphrates  were  abandoned :  the  Jews  across  that 
river  settled  peacefully  down  with  their  old  masters 
again ;  and  henceforward  the  tranquillity  of  these 
trans-Euphrates  Jews  wonderfully  contrasts  with  the 
turbulence  and  ferocity  of  their  Syrian  brethren.  But 
Hadrian  resolved  to  suppress  this  troublesome  and 
turbulent  Judaism  altogether.  He  forbade  circum- 
cision, the  reading  of  the  Law,  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbaths ;  and  he  resolved  to  convert  Jerusalem  into  a 
Roman  colony.  And  then,  because  the  Jews  could  no 
longer  endure  their  indignities,  and  because  before  the 
dawn  they  ever  looked  for  the  darkest  hour,  the  most 
cruel  wrong,  there  arose  Barcochebas,  the  '  Son  of  the 
Star,'  and  led  away  their  hearts,  in  the  belief  that  he 
was  indeed  the  Messiah.  This,  the  last,  was  the 
wildest  and  the  most  bloodthirsty  of  all  the  Jewish 
revolts. 

The  Messiah,  the  rumour  ran  forth  among  all  Jews 
in  all  lands,  had  come  at  last,  and  the  prophecy  of 
Balaam  was  fulfilled.  The  mission  of  the  pretender 
was  recognised  by  no  less  a  person  than  Akiba,  the 
greatest  of  living  doctors,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all 
Jewish  doctors.  He,  when  he  saw  Barcochebas,  ex- 
claimed loudly,  '  Behold  the  Messiah  !'  '  Akiba,'  replied 
Rabbi  Johannan  Ben  Torta,  whose  faith  was  perhaps 
as  strong,  but  whose  imagination  was  not  so  active  as 
his  learned  brother's, '  the  grass  will  be  growing  through 
your  jaws  before  the  Messiah  comes.'  But  Akiba's 
authority  prevailed. 


RABBI  AKIBA.  57 


Rabbi  Akiba,  according  to  the  story  of  the  Rabbis, 
traced  his  descent  from  Sisera,  through  a  Jewish 
mother.  He  was  originally  a  poor  shepherd  boy,  em- 
ployed to  tend  the  sheep  belonging  to  a  rich  Jew 
named  Calva  Sheva.  He  fell  in  love  with  his  master's 
daughter,  and  was  refused  her  hand  on  the  ground  of 
his  poverty  and  lowness  of  condition.  He  married  her 
secretly,  went  away,  and  studied  the  Law.  In  course 
of  time  he  came  back  to  his  master,  followed,  we  are 
told,  like  Abelard,  by  twelve  thousand  disciples :  he 
was  a  second  time  refused  as  a  son-in-law.  He  went 
away  again,  but  returned  once  more,  this  time  with 
twenty-four  thousand  disciples,  upon  which  Calva 
Sheva  gave  him  his  daughter  and  took  him  into  favour. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
of  age  when  Barcochebas  appeared.  Probably  he  was 
at  least  well  advanced  in  years.  The  adherence  of 
Akiba  to  the  rebel  leader  was  doubtless  the  main  cause 
of  the  hold  which  he  obtained  over  his  countrymen,  for 
the  authority  of  Akiba  was  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  living  Jew.  Other  pretenders  had  obtained 
followers,  but  not  among  the  doctors  learned  in  the 
law,  not  among  such  Rabbis  as  Akiba.  When  the 
mischief  was  done,  and,  by  the  influence  of  Akiba, 
Barcochebas  found  himself  at  the  head  of  two  hundred 
thousand  warriors  mad  with  religious  zeal,  Turnus 
Rufus,  the  new  governor,  seized  and  imprisoned  the 
aged  Rabbi.*  He  was  brought  out  to  trial.  In  the 
midst  of  the  questioning  Akiba  remembered  that  it  was 
the  time  for  prayer,  and  with  his  usual  calmness,  in  the 
presence  of  his  judges,  disregarding  and  heedless  of 
their  questions,  he  proceeded  with  his  devotions.  He 
was  condemned  to  be  flayed  with  iron  hooks. 

*  Other  accounts  say  that  he  was  taken  prisoner  in  the  taking  of 
Jerusalem. 


58  JERUSALEM. 


No  one  knows  the  origin  and  previous  history  of 
Barcochebas,  nor  how  the  insurrection  first  began.  All 
kinds  of  legends  were  related  of  his  prowess  and  per- 
sonal strength.  He  was  so  strong  that  he  would  catch 
the  stones  thrown  from  the  catapults  with  his  feet,  and 
hurl  them  back  upon  the  enemy  with  force  equal  to 
that  of  the  machines  which  cast  them.  He  could 
breathe  flames.  He  would  at  first  admit  into  his  ranks 
only  those  men  who,  to  show  their  courage,  endured  to 
have  a  finger  cut  off;  but  was  dissuaded  from  this,  and 
ordered  instead,  and  as  a  proof  of  strength,  that  no  one 
should  join  his  ranks  who  could  not  himself  tear  up  a 
cedar  of  Lebanon  with  his  own  hands. 

The  first  policy  of  the  Jews  was  to  hide  their 
strength,  for  the  insurrection  was  long  in  being  pre- 
pared. They  knew,  and  they  alone,  all  the  secrets  of 
the  caves,  subterranean  passages,  and  hidden  com- 
munications with  which  their  city  and  whole  country 
were  honeycombed.  They  knew,  too,  where  were  the 
places  best  fitted  for  strongholds,  and  secretly  fortified 
them  ;  so  that  when  they  appeared  suddenly  and  un- 
expectedly as  the  aggressors,  they  became  masters 
almost  at  one  stroke  of  fifty  strong  places  and  nearly  a 
thousand  villages.  The  first  thing  they  did  was  to  take 
Jerusalem,  which  probably  offered  only  the  small  resist- 
ance of  a  feeble  garrison.  Here,  no  doubt,  they  set  up 
an  altar  again,  and,  after  a  fashion,  rebuilt  the  Temple. 
Turnus  Rufus,  the  Roman  governor,  whose  troops  were 
few,  slaughtered  the  unoffending  people  all  over  Judaea, 
but  was  not  strong  enough  to  make  head  against  the 
rebellion,  which  grew  daily  stronger.  Then  Julius 
Severus,  sent  for  by  Hadrian  in  haste,  came  with  an 
overwhelming  force,  and,  following  the  same  plan  as 
had  been  adopted  by  Vespasian,  attacked  their  strong 


BARCOCHEBAS.  59 


places  in  detail.  Jerusalem  was  taken,  the  spirits  of 
the  insurgents  being  crushed  by  the  falling  in  of  the 
vaults  on  Mount  Zion,  and  Barcochebas  himself  was 
slain.  The  rebels,  in  despair,  changed  his  name  to 
Bar  Koziba,  the  '  Son  of  a  Lie,'  and  fled  to  Bether, 
their  last  stronghold,  where  they  held  out,  under  Rufus, 
the  son  of  Barcochebas,  for  two  years  more.  A  story 
is  told  of  its  defence  which  shows  at  least  how  the 
hearts  of  the  Jews  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  their 
old  histories.*  Seeing  the  desperate  state  of  things, 
Eliezer,  the  Rabbi,  enjoined  the  besieged  to  seek  their 
last  resource  in  prayer  to  God.  All  day  long  he  prayed, 
and  all  day  long,  while  he  prayed,  the  battle  went  in 
favour  of  the  Jews.  Then  a  treacherous  Samaritan 
stole  up  to  the  Rabbi  and  whispered  in  his  ear.  The 
leader  of  the  insurgentsf  asked  what  he  whispered. 
The  Samaritan  refused  at  first  to  tell,  and  then,  with 
assumed  reluctance,  pretended  that  it  was  the  answer 
to  a  secret  message  which  Eliezer  had  sent  to  the 
Romans  proposing  capitulation.  The  Jewish  leader, 
infuriated  with  this  act  of  treason,  ordered  the  Rabbi 
to  be  instantly  executed.  This  was  done,  and  then, 
there  being  no  longer  anyone  to  pray,  the  tide  of  battle 
turned,  and  on  the  fatal  gth  of  August  the  fortress  of 
Bether  was  taken  and  the  slaughter  of  the  insurgents 
accomplished.  The  horses  of  the  Romans,  we  are  told, 
were  up  to  their  girths  in  blood.  An  immense  number 
fell  in  this  war  :  Dio  Cassius  says  five  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  by  the  sword  alone,  not  including 
those  who  fell  by  famine,  disease,  and  fire.  The 
fortress  itself  where  the  last  stand  was  made,  whose 

*  Milman,  iii.,  p.  122.  See  also  Derenbourg,  '  Hist,  dela  Pales- 
tine,' chap.  xxiv. 

t  Milman  says  Barcochebas,  but,  though  all  is  uncertainty,  it 
appears  probable,  as  stated  above,  that  he  was  dead  already. 


6o  JERUSALEM. 


position  was  long  unknown,  has  been  identified  beyond 
a  doubt  by  Mr.  George  Williams.*  It  appeared  as  if 
Hadrian's  purpose  was  achieved,  and  Judaism  at  last 
suppressed  for  ever.  He  turned  Jerusalem  into  a 
Roman  colony,  calling  it  iElia  Capitolina  ;  forbade  any 
Jew,  on  pain  of  death,  to  appear  even  within  sight  of 
the  city ;  and  built  a  temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  site  of 
the  Temple.  On  the  site  of  the  sepulchre  of  Christ, 
if  indeed  it  was  the  site,  was  a  temple  to  Venus,  placed 
there,  Eusebius  would  have  us  believe,  in  mockery  of 
the  Christian  religion,  and  with  a  design  to  destroy  the 
memory  of  the  sepulchre.  Meantime  the  Christians, 
who  had  suffered  greatly  during  the  revolt  of  Barco- 
chebas,  being  tortured  by  the  Jews  and  confounded 
with  them  by  the  Romans,  hastened  to  separate  them- 
selves as  much  as  possible  from  further  possibility  of 
confusion  by  electing  a  Gentile  convert,  Marcus,  to  the 
bishopric  of  Jerusalem.  To  this  period  maybe  referred 
the  first  springing  up  of  that  hatred  of  the  Jews  which 
afterwards  led  to  such  great  and  terrible  persecutions.f 
The  history  of  the  next  hundred  years  presents 
nothing  remarkable.  The  persecution  of  Diocletian 
raged  throughout  the  East ;  the  usual  stories  of 
miracles  are  recorded  ;  a  library  was  founded  in  Jeru- 
salem by  Bishop  Alexander  ;  and  meantime  the  old 
name  of  the  city  was  forgotten  entirely  out  of  its  own 
country.  So  much  was  this  the  case,  that  a  story  is 
related  of  an  Egyptian  martyr  who,  on  being  asked  the 
name  of  his  city,  replied  that  it  was  Jerusalem,  meaning 

*  'Holy  City,'  vol.  i.,  p.  210. 

f  An  account  of  the  Christian  bishops,  and  of  the  controversies 
and  discussions  which  harassed  the  Church,  will  be  found  in 
Williams's  '  Holy  City.'  It  may  be  as  well  to  mention  that  through- 
out this  work  we  have  studiously  refrained  from  touching,  except 
where  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  doing  so,  on  things  ecclesiastical. 


HELENA.  6 1 


the  heavenly  Jerusalem.  The  judge  had  never  heard 
of  such  a  city,  and  ordered  him  to  be  tortured  in  order 
to  ascertain  the  truth. 

And  now  grew  up  the  spirit  of  pilgrimage,  and  the 
superstition  of  sacred  places  began,  or  rather  was 
grafted  into  the  new  religion  from  the  old.  Of  the 
pilgrims  of  these  early  times  we  have  to  speak  in 
another  place.  At  present  they  interest  us  only  that 
they  brought  about  two  events  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  the  history  of  the  world  and  the  future  of 
the  Christian  Church — the  building  of  Constantine's 
church,  and  the  Invention  of  the  Cross  by  Helena. 
Happy  would  it  have  been,  indeed,  for  humanity, 
if  the  cave  of  Christ's  sepulchre  had  never  been  dis- 
covered, and  if  the  wood  of  the  Cross  had  still 
remained  buried  in  the  earth. 

The  historians  quarrel  as  much  over  the  birthplace 
of  Helena  as  that  of  Homer.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
a  Breton  king  named  Coel ;  she  was  born  in  York ; 
she  was  the  daughter  of  an  innkeeper  at  Drepanium, 
near  Nicomedia ;  she  was  a  native  of  Dalmatia,  of 
Dacia,  of  Tarsus,  of  Edessa,  of  Treves.  Whether  she 
was  ever  married  to  Constantius  does  not  appear.  If 
she  was,  he  deserted  her  for  Theodora,  the  daughter- 
in-law  of  Maximian.  But  Constantius  made  his  son, 
Constantine,  by  Helena,  his  legal  heir,  and  presented 
him  to  the  troops  as  his  successor ;  and  Constantine 
regarded  his  mother  with  the  greatest  affection,  sur- 
rounded her  with  every  outward  sign  of  respect  and 
dignity,  granted  her  the  title  of  Augusta,  stamped  her 
name  on  coins,  and  gave  her  name  to  divers  towns. 
Helena  was  at  this  period  a  Christian — whether  born 
in  the  new  religion  or  a  convert  does  not  appear ;  nor 
is  it  clear  that  she  had  anything  to  do  with  the  conver- 


62  JERUSALEM. 

sion  of  her  son.  This  illustrious  and  imperial  convert, 
stained  with  the  blood  of  his  father-in-law,  whom  he 
strangled  with  his  own  hands  ;  of  his  son,  whom  he 
sacrificed  at  the  lying  representations  of  his  wife ;  and 
of  that  wife  herself,  whom  he  executed  in  revenge  for 
the  death  of  his  son,  was  converted,  we  are  informed 
by  some  historians,  through  a  perception  of  the  beauty 
and  holiness  of  the  teaching  of  Christ.  Probably  he 
saw  in  the  Cross  a  magical  power  by  which  he  could 
defeat  his  enemies.  It  was  after  the  death  of  Crispus 
the  Caesar,  Constantine's  son,  that  Helena,  whose  heart 
was  broken  by  the  murder  of  her  grandson,  went  to 
Jerusalem  to  visit  the  sacred  spots  and  witness  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy.  On  her  way  she  delivered  cap- 
tives, relieved  the  oppressed,  rewarded  old  soldiers, 
adorned  Christian  churches,  and  arrived  in  the  Holy 
City  laden  with  the  blessings  of  a  grateful  people.  And 
here  she  discovered  the  Cross  in  the  following  manner. 
Led  by  Divine  intimation,  she  instructed  her  people 
where  to  dig  for  it,  and,  after  removing  the  earth  which 
the  heathen  had  heaped  round  the  spot,  she  found  the 
Sepulchre  itself,  and  close  beside  it  the  three  crosses 
still  lying  together,  and  the  tablet  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion which  Pilate  ordered  to  be  written.  The  true 
Cross  was  picked  out  from  the  three  by  the  method 
commonly  pursued  at  this  period,  and  always  attended 
with  satisfactory  results.  A  noble  lady  lay  sick  with  an 
incurable  disease  ;  all  the  crosses  were  brought  to  her 
bedside,  and  at  the  application  of  one,  that  on  which 
our  Lord  suffered,  she  was  immediately  restored  to 
perfect  health.  This  is  the  account  given  by  the 
writers  of  the  following  century ;  but  not  one  of  the 
contemporary  writers  relates  the  story,  though  Cyril, 
who   was    Bishop    of   Jerusalem    from    the   year   748, 


BUILDING  OF  THE  BASILICA.  63 

alludes  to  the  finding  of  the  Cross.  Eusebius  preserves 
a  total  silence  about  it — a  silence  which  to  us  is  con- 
clusive. The  following  is  his  account  of  the  discovery 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ('  Life  of  Constantine,'  iii.  25) : 

'  After  these  things  the  pious  emperor  .  .  .  judged  it 
incumbent  on  him  to  render  the  blessed  locality  of  our 
Saviour's  resurrection  an  object  of  attraction  and  venera- 
tion to  all.  He  issued  immediate  injunctions,  there- 
fore, for  the  erection  in  that  spot  of  a  house  of  prayer. 

'  It  had  been  in  time  past  the  endeavour  of  impious 
men  to  consign  to  the  darkness  of  oblivion  that  divine 
monument  of  immortality  to  which  the  radiant  angel 
had  descended  from  heaven  and  rolled  away  the  stone 
for  those  who  still  had  stony  hearts.  .  .  .  This  sacred 
cave  certain  impious  and  godless  persons  had  thought 
to  remove  entirely  from  the  eyes  of  men.  Accordingly 
they  brought  a  quantity  of  earth  from  a  distance  with 
much  labour,  and  covered  the  entire  spot ;  then,  having 
raised  this  to  a  moderate  height,  they  paved  it  with 
stone,  concealing  the  holy  cave  beneath  this  massive 
mound.  Then  ....  they  prepare  on  the  foundation 
a  truly  dreadful  sepulchre  of  souls,  by  building  a  gloomy 
shrine  of  lifeless  idols  to  the  impure  spirit  whom  they 
call  Venus.  .  .  .  These  devices  of  impious  men  against 
the  truth  had  prevailed  for  a  long  time,  nor  had  any 
one  of  the  governors,  or  military  commanders,  or  even 
of  the  emperors  themselves,  ever  yet  appeared  with 
ability  to  destroy  those  daring  impieties  save  only  our 
prince  ...  As  soon  as  his  commands  were  issued  these 
engines  of  deceit  were  cast  down  from  their  proud 
eminence  to  the  very  ground,  and  the  dwelling-place  of 
error  was  overthrown  and  utterly  destroyed. 

'  Nor  did  the  emperor's  zeal  stop  here;  but  he  gave 
further  orders  that  the  materials  of  what  was  thus  de- 


64  JERUSALEM. 


stroyed  should  be  removed  and  thrown  from  the  spot 
as  far  as  possible ;  and  this  command  was  speedily 
executed.  The  emperor,  however,  was  not  satisfied 
with  having  proceeded  thus  far :  once  more,  fired  with 
holy  ardour,  he  directed  that  the  ground  should  be  dug 
up  to  a  considerable  depth,  and  the  soil  which  had  been 
polluted  by  the  foul  impurities  of  demon-worship  trans- 
ported to  a  far  distant  place.  .  .  .  But  as  soon  as  the 
original  surface  of  the  ground,  beneath  the  covering  of 
earth,  appeared,  immediately,  and  contrary  to  all  ex- 
pectation, the  venerable  and  hallowed  monument  of  our 
Saviour's  resurrection  was  discovered.  Then,  indeed, 
did  this  most  holy  cave  present  a  faithful  similitude  of 
return  to  life,  in  that,  after  lying  buried  in  darkness,  it 
again  emerged  to  light,  and  afforded  to  all  who  came 
to  witness  the  sight  a  clear  and  visible  proof  of  the 
wonders  of  which  that  spot  had  once  been  the  scene.' 

In  other  words  :  in  the  time  of  Constantine  a  report 
existed  that  the  spot  then  occupied  by  a  temple  of 
Venus  was  the  site  of  our  Lord's  burial-place  :  Con- 
stantine took  down  the  temple,  meaning  to  build  the 
church  upon  it :  then,  in  removing  the  earth,  supposed 
to  be  defiled  by  the  idol  worship  which  had  taken  place 
upon  it,  they  found  to  their  extreme  astonishment  the 
cave  or  tomb  which  is  shown  to  this  day.  There  is 
no  evidence  at  all  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  site. 
Then  came  the  building  of  the  Basilica. 

'  First  of  all,*  he  adorned  the  sacred  cave  itself,  as  the 
chief  part  of  the  whole  work,  and  the  hallowed  monu- 
ment at  which  the  angel,  radiant  with  light,  had  once 
declared  to  all  that  regeneration  which  was  first  mani- 
fested in  the  Saviour's  person.  This  monument,  there- 
fore, as  the  chief  part  of  the  whole,  the  emperor's 
*  Euseb.  '  Life  of  Constantine,'  iii.,  ch.  xxxiii.  et  seq. 


BUILDING  OF  THE  BASILICA.  65 

zealous  magnificence  beautified  with  rare  columns,  and 
profusely  enriched  with  the  most  splendid  decorations 
of  every  kind. 

'  The  next  object  of  his  attention  was  a  space  of 
ground  of  great  extent,  and  open  to  the  pure  air  of 
heaven.  This  he  adorned  with  a  pavement  of  finely- 
polished  stone,  and  enclosed  it  on  three  sides  with 
porticoes  of  great  length.  At  the  side  opposite  to  the 
sepulchres,  which  was  the  eastern  side,  the  church  it- 
self was  erected  ;  a  noble  work,  rising  to  a  vast  height, 
and  of  great  extent,  both  in  length  and  breadth.  The 
interior  of  this  structure  was  floored  with  marble  slabs 
of  various  colours  ;  while  the  external  surface  of  the 
walls,  which  shone  with  polished  stones  exactly  fitted 
together,  exhibited  a  degree  of  splendour  in  no  respect 
inferior  to  that  of  marble.  With  regard  to  the  roof,  it 
was  covered  on  the  outside  with  lead,  as  a  protection 
against  the  rains  of  winter.  But  the  inner  part  of  the 
roof,  which  was  finished  with  sculptured  fretwork, 
extended  in  a  series  of  connected  compartments,  like 
a  vast  sea,  over  the  whole  church  ;  and,  being  overlaid 
throughout  with  the  purest  gold,  caused  the  entire 
building  to  glitter,  as  it  were,  with  rays  of  light. 
Besides  this  were  two  porticoes  on  each  side,  with 
upper  and  lower  ranges  of  pillars,  corresponding  in 
length  with  the  church  itself;  and  these  had,  also,  their 
roofs  ornamented  with  gold.  Of  these  porticoes,  those 
which  were  exterior  to  the  church  were  supported  by 
columns  of  great  size,  while  those  within  these  rested 
on  piles  of  stone  beautifully  adorned  on  the  surface. 
Three  gates,  placed  exactly  east,  were  intended  to 
receive  those  who  entered  the  church. 

'  Opposite  these  gates  the  crowning  part  of  the  whole 
was  the  hemisphere,  which  rose  to  the  very  summit  of 

5 


66  JERUSALEM. 


the  church.  This  was  encircled  by  twelve  columns 
(according  to  the  number  of  the  apostles  of  our 
Saviour),  having  their  capitals  embellished  with  silver 
bowls  of  great  size,  which  the  emperor  himself  pre- 
sented as  a  splendid  offering  to  his  god. 

'  In  the  next  place,  he  enclosed  the  atrium,  which 
occupied  the  space  leading  to  the  entrance  in  front  of 
the  church.  This  comprehended,  first,  the  court,  then 
the  porticoes  on  each  side,  and  lastly  the  gates  of  the 
court.  After  these,  in  the  midst  of  the  open  market- 
place, the  entrance  gates  of  the  whole  work,  which 
were  of  exquisite  workmanship,  afforded  to  passers-by 
on  the  outside  a  view  of  the  interior,  which  could  not 
fail  to  excite  astonishment.' 

According,  therefore,  to  the  account  of  Eusebius, 
Constantine  built  one  church,  and  only  one.  This  was 
not  over  the  sepulchre  at  all,  but  to  the  east  of  it,  and 
separated  from  it  by  a  space  open  to  the  heavens,  the 
sepulchre  itself  being  set  about  with  pillars. 

In  the  transport  of  enthusiasm  which  followed  the 
conversion  of  Constantine,  the  Jews  probably  found  it 
convenient  to  keep  as  quiet  as  possible.  They  held  at 
this  time  exclusive  possession  of  four  large  towns  in 
Galilee  where  they  governed  themselves,  or  rather  sub- 
mitted to  the  government  of  the  Rabbis.  Attempts 
were  made  to  convert  them.  Sylvester  succeeded,  it  is 
related,  in  converting  a  number  of  them  by  a  miracle. 
For  a  conference  was  held  between  the  Christians  and 
Jews  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor  himself.  One  of 
the  Rabbis  asked  permission  that  an  ox  should  be 
brought  in.  He  whispered  in  the  ear  of  the  animal  the 
ineffable  name  of  God,  and  the  beast  fell  dead.  '  Will 
you  believe,'  asked  the  pope,  '  if  I  raise  him  to  life 
again  ?'     They  agreed.     Sylvester  adjured  the  ox,  in 


JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE.  67 

the  name  of  Christ,  and  if  Jesus  was  veritably  the 
Messiah,  to  come  to  life  again.  The  beast  rose  and 
quietly  went  on  feeding.  Whereupon  the  Jews  all  went 
out  and  were  baptized. 

Stories  of  this  kind  were  invented  whenever  it  seemed 
well  to  stimulate  zeal  or  to  promote  conversions.  The 
Jews  were  probably  only  saved  from  a  cruel  persecution 
by  the  death  of  the  imperial  convert.  Already  severe 
decrees  had  been  issued.  Constantine's  laws  enact  that 
any  Jew  who  endangers  the  life  of  a  Christian  convert 
shall  be  buried  alive  ;  that  no  Christian  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  become  a  Jew  ;  that  no  Jew  shall  possess 
Christian  slaves.  But  the  laws  were  little  lightened  in 
their  favour  by  the  successor  of  Constantine,  and  the 
Jews  made  one  or  two  local  and  feeble  attempts  to  rise 
in  Judaea  and  in  Alexandria.  Here  they  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  plundering  and  slaying  the  Christians  by 
joining  the  side  of  Arius. 

And  then  there  came  a  joyful  day — too  short,  indeed, 
for  the  Jews — when  Julian  the  Apostate  mounted  the 
throne.  Julian  addressed  a  letter  to  the  patriarch, 
annulling  the  aggressive  laws,  and  promising  great 
things  for  them  on  his  return  from  the  East.  At  the 
same  time  he  issued  his  celebrated  edict  ordering  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  care  of  the 
work  being  entrusted  to  his  favourite,  Alypius.  And 
now,  it  seemed,  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  was  to  be 
accomplished  in  an  unexpected  manner,  not  foretold 
by  prophecy.  The  wealth  of  the  people  was  showered 
upon  the  projected  work,  Jews  of  all  ages  and  both 
sexes  streamed  along  the  roads  which  led  to  Jerusalem, 
and,  amid  hopes  more  eager  than  any  the  hapless 
people  had  yet  experienced,  the  work  was  begun. 
Hardly  were  the  foundations  uncovered,  the  joyful  Jews 

5—2 


68  JERUSALEM. 

crowding  round  the  workmen,  when  flames  of  fire  burst 
forth  from  underground,  accompanied  by  loud  explo- 
sions. The  workmen  fled  in  wild  affright,  and  the 
labours  were  at  once  suspended.  Nor  were  they  ever 
renewed.  The  anger  of  Heaven  was  manifested  in  the 
mysterious  flames  :  not  yet  was  to  be  the  rebuilding  of 
the  Temple.  And  then  Julian  died,  cut  off  in  early 
manhood,  and  whatever  hopes  remained  among  the 
Jews  were  crushed  by  this  untimely  event. 

As  for  the  miracle  of  the  flames,  it  has  been  accounted 
for  by  supposing  the  foul  gas  in  the  subterranean 
passages  to  have  caught  fire.  Perhaps,  it  has  been 
maliciously  suggested,  the  flames  were  designed  by  the 
Christians  themselves,  eager  to  prevent  the  rebuilding 
of  the  Temple.  In  any  case  there  seems  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  fact. 

And  now  for  three  hundred  years  the  history  of 
Jerusalem  is  purely  ecclesiastical.  The  disputes  of  the 
Christians,  the  quarrels  among  the  bishops  over  the 
supremacy  of  their  sees,  the  bitter  animosities  engen- 
dered by  Arius,  Pelagius,  and  other  heretics  and  leaders 
of  heterodox  thought,  made  Palestine  a  battlefield  of 
angry  words,  which  the  disputants  would  gladly  have 
turned  into  a  battlefield  of  swords.  The  history  of 
their  controversies  does  not  belong  to  us,  and  may  be 
read  in  the  pages  of  Dean  Milman  and  the  Rev.  George 
Williams. 

The  Samaritans  gave  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in  the 
time  of  Justinian  by  revolting  and  slaughtering  the 
Christians  in  their  quarter.  They  were,  however, 
quieted  in  the  usual  way,  '  by  punishment,'  and  peace 
reigned  over  all  the  country.  Justinian  built  a  magni- 
ficent church,  of  which  the  Mosque  El  Aksa  perhaps 
preserves  some  of  the  walls  at  least.     It  was  so  magni- 


PEACEFUL  TIMES.  69 

ficent  that,  in  the  delight  of  his  heart,  the  emperor 
exclaimed,  '  I  have  surpassed  thee,  O  Solomon  !'  All 
Syria  became  a  nest  of  monasteries,  nunneries,  and 
hermitages.  In  the  north  Simeon  Stylites  and  his  fol- 
lowers perched  themselves  on  pillars,  and  soothed  their 
sufferings  with  the  adoration  of  those  who  came  to 
look  at  them.  In  Palestine  were  hundreds  of  monas- 
teries, while  in  every  cave  was  a  hermit,  on  every 
mountain-side  was  the  desolate  dwelling  of  some  recluse, 
and  the  air  was  heavy  with  the  groans  of  those  who 
tortured  the  flesh  in  order  to  save  the  soul.  Moreover, 
the  country  was  a  great  storehouse  of  relics.  To 
manufacture  them,  or  rather  to  find  them,  was  a  labour 
of  love  and  of  profit  for  the  people.  It  was  not  difficult, 
because  bones  of  saints  were  known  always  to  emit  a 
sweet  and  spice-like  odour.  They  were  thus  readily 
distinguished.  No  doubt  the  aid  of  history  was  re- 
sorted to  in  order  to  determine  whose  bones  they  were. 
Nor  was  it  at  all  a  matter  to  disturb  the  faith  of  the 
holder  if  another  man  possessed  the  same  relic  of  the 
same  saint.  Meantime  the  wood  of  the  Cross  was  dis- 
covered to  have  a  marvellous  property — it  multiplied 
itself.  If  you  cut  a  piece  off  to  sell  to  a  distinguished 
pilgrim,  or  to  send  to  a  powerful  prince  for  a  con- 
sideration, this  invaluable  relic,  by  a  certain  inherent 
vis  viva,  repaired  itself  and  became  whole  again,  as  it 
had  been  before  ;  so  that,  if  the  owners  had  chosen,  a 
piece  might  have  been  cut  off  for  every  man  in  the 
world,  and  yet  the  wood  have  been  no  smaller.  But 
the  holders  of  the  Cross  were  not  so  minded.  So  the. 
time  went  on,  and  pleasant  days,  with  leisure  for  theo- 
logical quarrelling,  were  enjoyed  in  the  Holy  Land. 
The  litanies  of  the  Church  were  heard  and  said  night 
and  day,  and  no  part  of  the  country  but  resounded 


7o  JERUSALEM. 


with  the  psalms  and  hymns  of  Christ,  the  intervals  of 
the  services  being  occupied  by  the  monks  in  the  finding 
and  sale  of  relics,  and  in  bitter  dissensions  between 
those  who  held  views  contrary  to  themselves.  It  was 
a  land  given  over  to  monks,  with  a  corrupt  and  narrow- 
minded  Church  daily  growing  more  corrupt  and  more 
narrow,  and  when  its  fall  took  place  the  cup  of  its 
corruptions  appears  to  have  been  full.  King  Chosroes, 
the  Persian  conqueror,  advanced  into  Syria,  and  the 
Jews,  eager  for  some  revenge  for  all  their  miseries, 
gladly  joined  his  victorious  arms.  With  him  would  be, 
without  doubt,  many  of  their  own  countrymen,  the 
brethren  of  the  Captivity,  and  the  Mesopotamian  Jews. 
Those  in  Tyre  sent  messengers  to  their  countrymen  in 
Damascus  anil  other  places,  urging  them  to  rise  and 
massacre  the  Christians.  The  messengers  were  inter- 
cepted. The  Christians  in  Tyre  put  the  leading  Jews 
in  prison  and  barred  the  gates.  Then  the  insurgents 
appeared  outside,  and  began  to  burn  and  waste  the 
suburbs.  For  every  Christian  church  burned,  the 
Christians  beheaded  a  hundred  prisoners  and  threw 
their  heads  over  the  wall.  The  Jews  burned  twenty 
churches,  and  two  thousand  heads  were  thrown  over.* 
Then  came  the  news  that  Chosroes  was  marching  on 
Jerusalem,  and  all  the  Jews  flocked  with  eager  antici- 
pations to  follow  him.  The  city,  feebly  defended,  if  at 
all,  by  its  priestly  inhabitants,  was  taken  at  once. 
Ninety  thousand  Christians  are  reported  as  having 
been  slaughtered  (it  matters  little  now  whether  the 
number  is  correct  or  not  ;  so  large  a  number  means 
nothing  more  definite  than  the  indication  of  a  great 
massacre)  ;  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre — i.e., 
what  Eusebius  calls,  speaking  of  it  as  a  whole,  the 
*  Milman,  iii.  238. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  BUILDINGS.  71 

Temple — the  Basilica  with  its  porticoes  and  pillars, 
and  the  decorations  of  the  Sepulchre,  were  all  de- 
stroyed ;  the  churches  built  by  Helena  on  the  Mount 
of  Olives  shared  the  same  fate.  The  sacred  vessels 
were  carried  off  by  the  conquerors  ;  the  wood  of  the 
true  Cross  was  part  of  the  booty,  and  the  Patriarch 
Zacharias  was  made  prisoner  and  carried  away  with  it. 
But  the  wife  of  Chosroes  was  a  Christian.  By  her  inter- 
cession Zacharias  was  well  treated  and  the  wood  of  the 
Cross  preserved.  And  immediately  after  the  retreat  of 
the  Persians  one  Modestus,  aided  by  gifts  from  John 
Eleemon  of  Alexandria,  began  to  repair  and  rebuild,  as 
best  he  might,  the  ruined  churches.  Fifteen  years  later 
Heraclius  reconquered  the  provinces  of  Syria  and 
Egypt,  regained  the  wood  of  the  Cross,  and  in  great 
triumph,  though  clad  in  mean  and  humble  dress,  and 
as  a  pilgrim,  entered  Jerusalem  (September  14,  a.d.  629) 
bearing  the  wood  upon  his  shoulder.  The  restoration 
of  the  Cross  was  accompanied  also  by  revenge  taken 
upon  the  Jews.  Henceforth  in  the  annals  of  Christen- 
dom every  revival  of  religious  zeal  is  to  be  marked  by 
the  murdering  and  massacring  of  Jews. 

What  little  we  have  to  say  on  the  vexata  qiiczstio  of 
the  topography  of  Jerusalem  will  be  found  further  on 
(see  Appendix)  ;  but  on  leaving  this,  the  second  period 
of  our  history,  one  remark  must  be  made,  which  may 
help  to  explain  the  uncertainty  which  rests  upon  the 
sites  of  the  city.  The  destruction  of  the  buildings, 
first  under  Titus,  and  next  under  Chosroes,  appears  to 
have  been  thorough  and  complete.  Pillars  may  have 
remained  standing,  with  portions  of  walls ;  founda- 
tions, of  course,  remained,  these  being  covered  up  and 
buried  in  the  debris  of  roofs,  walls,  and  decorations. 
On  these  foundations   the  Christians   would    rebuild, 


72  JERUSALEM. 


imitating  as  far  as  possible  the  structures  that  had 
been  destroyed.  In  many  cases  they  would  have  the 
very  pillars  to  set  up  again  ;  in  all  cases  they  would 
have  the  same  foundations.  But  there  was  no  time 
between  the  conquest  by  Heraclius  and  that  by  Omar 
to  repair  and  restore  the  whole,  and  perhaps  nothing 
was  actually  built  except  a  church  over  the  site  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  formed  of  the  materials  which  re- 
mained of  the  Basilica  of  the  Martyrium.  This  theory 
would  partly  account  for  the  silence  about  Justinian's 
Basilica,  and  for  the  apparent  discrepancy  between  the 
statement  made  by  Eusebius  of  decorations  only  having 
been  set  round  the  Sepulchre  itself,  contrasted  with  his 
admiration  of  the  splendid  Church  of  the  Martyrium. 

However  all  this  may  be,  Jerusalem  presents  in 
history  three  totally  distinct  and  utterly  unlike  appear- 
ances. It  has  one  under  Herod ;  one  under  Justinian  ; 
and  one  under  Saladin.  Under  the  first  it  possesses 
one  building  splendid  enough  to  excite  the  admiration 
of  the  whole  world  ;  under  the  second  it  has  its  clus- 
tered churches  as  splendid  as  the  art  of  the  time  would 
admit ;  under  the  third  it  has  its  two  great  buildings, 
the  Dome  of  the  Rock  and  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre,  standing  over  against  each  other,  two 
enemies  bound  by  mutual  expediency  to  peace. 

Only  one  of  these  buildings  is  ancient ;  but  some- 
where in  the  ruins  and  rubbish  in  which  the  whole  city 
is  buried  lie  the  foundations  of  those  which  have  been 
destroyed. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    MOHAMMEDAN    CONQUEST.        A.D.  632 — IIO4. 

HaxpETe  to  Xepov(3iKn,  ki  ag  xafxriXuHTOVv  r  "Ayia  ! 
Tlcnradeg  7rdpTe  rd  ieod,  icai  alig  ictpid  o-/3voT^re, 
JT«m  elvai  OkXtj/xa  Qeoi)  1)  U6\i  vd  rovpiceipy. 

To  the  Arab  wanderer  on  the  barren  and  sun-stricken 
plains  of  the  Hejjaz,  the  well-watered,  fertile  land  of 
Syria  had  always  been  an  object  of  admiration  and 
envy.  As  Mohammed  the  camel-driver  sat  on  the  hill 
which  overlooks  Damascus,  and  gazed  upon  the  rich 
verdure  of  that  garden  of  the  East,  his  religious  frenzy, 
his  visionary  schemes  for  the  unity  and  regeneration  of 
his  race,  had  well-nigh  yielded  to  the  voluptuous  fasci- 
nation of  the  scene.  But  enthusiasm  and  ambition 
triumphed  :  his  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  exclaiming, 
1  Man  can  enter  Paradise  but  once,'  he  turned  sorrow- 
fully back,  and  in  that  moment  changed  the  fortunes  of 
the  world. 

When  Abu  Bekr,  Mohammed's  first  successor,  had 
quelled  the  disturbances  which  threatened  the  Muslim 
power,  and  found  himself  the  acknowledged  head  of  an 
immense  confederation  of  restless  and  enthusiastic 
warriors,  thoughts  of  conquest  naturally  presented 
themselves  to  his  mind,  and  Syria  was,  as  naturally,  the 
first  quarter  to  which  he  turned. 

His  resolution  once  taken,  he  addressed  a  circular- 
letter  to  the  petty  chieftains  of  Arabia,  in  which,  ap- 


74  JERUSALEM. 

pealing  to  their  national  prejudices  and  newly- 
awakened  religious  zeal,  he  exhorted  them  to  wrest  the 
long-coveted  Syria  out  of  the  Christians'  hands.  His 
proposal  was  hailed  with  satisfaction  by  all  those  to 
whom  it  was  addressed,  and  in  a  short  space  of  time  a 
considerable  army  was  assembled  around  Medinah, 
waiting  for  the  caliph's  orders.  Yezid  ibn  Abi  Sufiyan 
was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces,  and 
received  immediate  orders  to  march.  Nothing  could 
have  been  more  moderate  than  the  instructions  which 
Abu  Bekr  delivered  to  his  general  for  the  conduct  of  the 
war.  He  was  to  respect  the  lives  of  women,  children, 
and  aged  persons  :  to  permit  no  wanton  mischief  or 
destruction  of  property,  and  to  adhere  religiously  to 
any  covenant  or  treaty  which  they  might  make  with 
the  opposite  side. 

The  Emperor  Heraclius  made  immediate  prepara- 
tions for  averting  the  threatened  invasion,  but  his 
hastily-collected  and  ill-organized  forces  were  defeated 
in  the  very  first  engagement,  while  the  Arabs  scarcely 
suffered  any  loss.  Encouraged  by  the  success  of  their 
countrymen,  the  inhabitants  of  Mecca  and  of  the 
Hejjaz  flocked  to  Abu  Bekr's  standard,  and  another 
division,  under  ''Amer  ibn  el  "As,  the  future  conqueror 
of  Egypt,  was  despatched  into  Palestine.  Abu  'Obei- 
dah  ibn  el  Jerrah,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  anon, 
was  at  the  same  time  sent  to  take  the  command  in 
Syria  ;  but  meeting  with  some  reverses,  he  was  in  turn 
superseded  by  Khalid  ibn  el  Walid,  who  was  recalled 
from  Irak  for  that  purpose.  This  warrior's  achieve- 
ments against  'the  Infidels  '  had,  during  Mohammed's 
lifetime,  earned  for  him  the  title  of  '  The  drawn  Sword 
of  God,'  and  his  name  had  already  become  a  terror  to 
the  Greeks. 


INVASION  THREATENED.  75 

The  important  town  of  Bostra  was  the  first  to  yield, 
being  betrayed  by  its  governor  Romanus,  and  the  Sara- 
cens thus  obtained  a  footing  in  Syria,  of  which  they 
were  not  slow  to  take  advantage. 

The  forces  now  marched  upon  Damascus,  when  a 
change  took  place  in  the  relative  position  of  the 
generals.  Abu  Bekr,  shortly  before  his  decease,  which 
happened  in  634  a.d.,  had  appointed  'Omar  ibn  el 
Khattab  his  successor.  The  first  act  of  the  new  caliph 
on  assuming  the  reins  of  government  was  to  depose 
Khalid  from  the  command  of  the  army  in  Syria,  and  to 
appoint  Abu  'Obeidah  generalissimo  in  his  stead. 
'Omar's  letter  containing  these  commands  reached 
them  outside  Damascus,  and  Abu  'Obeidah,  imme- 
diately upon  receiving  it,  posted  himself  with  his 
division  at  the  Bab  el  Jabieh  ;  Khalid  occupied  the 
eastern  gate,  and  the  two  remaining  chiefs,  Yezid  ibn 
Abi  Sufiyan  and  ''Amer  ibn  el  ''As,  having  disposed  their 
forces  on  the  north  and  south  sides  respectively,  a  strict 
blockade  was  commenced. 

For  seventy  days  Damascus  held  out ;  when,  Khalid 
having  forced  the  eastern  gate,  the  inhabitants  retreated 
to  the  opposite  side  of  the  city,  and,  finding  further  re- 
sistance impossible,  admitted  Abu  'Obeidah  peaceably 
within  the  walls ;  the  two  generals  thus  met  in  the 
centre  of  the  city. 

The  conquest  of  Damascus  was  followed  by  the 
taking  of  Horns,  after  a  protracted  siege  ;  Hamath  and 
Ma'arrah  surrendered  without  a  blow  ;  Laodicea, 
Jebeleh,  Tarsus,  Aleppo,  Antioch,  Csesarea,  Sebastiyeh, 
Nablus,  Lydda,  and  Jaffa,  one  after  another  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  invaders.  But  it  was  at  the  battle  of 
Yarmuk  (a.d.  636)  that  the  Christian  power  in  Syria 
experienced  the  most  fatal  blow. 


76  JERUSALEM. 


The  Emperor  Heraclius,  driven  to  desperation  by  the 
continued  successes  of  the  enemy,  had  determined  upon 
making  a  great  and  final  effort  for  the  preservation  of  his 
empire  in  the  East.  He  had  accordingly  raised  an 
immense  army  from  all  parts  of  his  dominions,  and 
despatched  the  main  body  to  give  battle  to  the  Sara- 
cens ;  while  the  remaining  portion,  which  was  still  very 
considerable  in  point  of  numbers,  received  instructions 
to  defend  the  seaboard  of  Syria. 

On  the  approach  of  the  Greek  army  the  Arab  generals, 
who  were  at  Horns  (the  ancient  Emessa),  retreated 
toward  Yarmuk,  where  they  would  be  in  a  better  posi- 
tion for  receiving  reinforcements  from  home,  and 
Mahan  (or  Manuel),  the  Greek  general,  followed  them 
in  hot  pursuit.  At  first  their  progress  was  opposed  by 
the  Christian  Arabs,  under  Jebaleh  ibn  Aiham  ;  but 
this  chief  was  defeated  with  little  loss  to  the  Muslims, 
although  some  men  of  note,  and  amongst  them  Yezid 
ibn  Abi  Sufiyan,  were  taken  prisoners.  Abu  'Obeidah 
now  sent  a  message  to  the  caliph,  urging  him  to  send 
them  immediate  reinforcements,  and  another  army  of 
eight  hundred  men  was  quickly  levied  in  Arabia,  and 
sent  to  the  relief  of  the  Syrian  generals.  When 
Mahan's  army  reached  Yarmuk  some  negotiations  were 
opened  between  the  Greeks  and  Christians.  Khalid, 
who  acted  as  parlementaire  on  the  occasion,  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  release  of  the  prisoners  ;  but,  as  they 
were  unable  to  come  to  terms,  both  sides  began  to  pre- 
pare for  the  battle  which  was  to  determine  the  fate  of 
Syria. 

For  several  days  the  fighting  continued  with  fluctu- 
ating fortune,  but  at  last  an  incident  happened  which 
decided  the  contest  in  favour  of  the  Mohammedans. 
A  native  of  Horns,  who  happened  to  be  staying  in  the 


DEFEA  T  AT  YA RMUK.  7 7 

neighbourhood  of  Yarmuk,  had  hospitably  entertained 
some  of  the  Grecian  officers  ;  this  kindness  they 
requited  by  the  violation  of  his  wife  and  the  murder  of 
his  infant  son.  Maddened  by  his  wrongs,  and  unable 
to  obtain  redress  from  the  Greek  general,  he  went  over 
to  the  Mohammedans,  and,  having  betrayed  the  Chris- 
tians into  an  ambuscade  near  the  ford  of  the  river,  they 
were  attacked  and  completely  routed  by  their  enemies, 
more  than  forty  thousand  men  perishing  by  the  sword 
or  being  whirled  away  by  the  resistless  stream  and 
drowned.  Thus  the  same  licentious  barbarity  and 
corruption  which,  more  than  Arab  prowess,  had  con- 
tributed to  the  success  of  the  Muslim  arms  at  the  out- 
set of  the  war,  ultimately  resulted  in  the  entire  over- 
throw of  the  Christian  power  in  the  East. 

Nothing  now  remained  to  complete  the  triumph  of 
the  invaders  but  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  itself ;  accord- 
ingly a  little  time  after  the  decisive  battle  of  Yarmuk 
(a.d.  636),  Abu  'Obeidah  prepared  to  march  upon  the 
Holy  City.  Yezid  ibn  Abi  Sufiyan  was  sent  forward 
with  a  detachment  of  five  thousand  men ;  Abu  'Obei- 
dah himself  brought  up  the  main  body  a  few  days  later, 
and  was  joined  shortly  after  by  the  division  under 
''Amer  ibn  el  ''As.  Desiring  to  afford  the  inhabitants 
every  opportunity  of  coming  to  terms  without  further 
bloodshed,  the  general,  before  actually  commencing 
hostilities,  halted  at  the  ford  of  the  Jordan,  and  indited 
a  letter  to  the  Christian  patriarch  and  people  of  yElia, 
demanding  their  immediate  submission,  and  requiring 
them  either  to  embrace  the  Mohammedan  faith,  or  to 
pay  the  usual  tribute  exacted  from  unbelievers.  '  If 
you  refuse,'  said  he,  '  you  will  have  to  contend  with 
people  who  love  the  taste  of  death  more  than  you  love 
wine  and  swine's  flesh,   and  rest    assured  that  I  will 


78  JERUSALEM. 


come  up  against  you,  and  will  not  depart  until  I  have 
slain  all  the  able-bodied  men  among  you,  and  carried 
off  your  women  and  children  captive.' 

To  this  message  a  decisive  refusal  was  returned,  and 
Abu  'Obeidah,  in  accordance  with  his  threat,  marched 
upon  Jerusalem  and  besieged  the  town.  The  Christians, 
after  several  unsuccessful  sallies,  finding  themselves 
reduced  to  great  straits  by  the  protracted  siege,  made 
overtures  for  capitulation,  but  refused  to  treat  with  any 
but  the  caliph  himself.  Having  exacted  a  solemn  oath 
from  them  that  they  would  hold  to  the  proposed  con- 
ditions in  case  of  his  sovereign's  arrival,  the  general 
sent  a  message  to  'Omar,  inviting  him  to  leave  Medina, 
and  receive  in  person  the  capitulation  of  the  town.  The 
messengers  from  Abu  'Obeidah's  camp  were  accom- 
panied by  some  representatives  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity, and  the  latter  were  much  astonished  at  the 
stern  simplicity  and  comparative  retirement  in  which 
the  caliph  was  living,  which  but  ill-accorded  with  their 
previously  conceived  ideas  of  the  great  monarch  who 
had  conquered  the  whole  of  Arabia  and  Syria,  and 
made  even  the  emperors  of  Greece  and  Persia  to 
tremble  on  their  thrones.  The  meeting  between  the 
caliph  and  his  victorious  general  was  still  further  cal- 
culated to  impress  them.  'Omar  was  mounted  on  a 
camel,  and  attired  in  simple  Bedawi  costume — a  sheep- 
skin cloak  and  coarse  cotton  shirt  ;  Abu  'Obeidah  was 
mounted  on  a  small  she-camel,  an  '  abba  '  or  mantle  of 
haircloth,  folded  over  the  saddle,  and  a  rude  halter  of 
twisted  hair  forming  her  only  trappings  ;  he  wore  his 
armour,  and  carried  his  bow  slung  across  his  shoulder. 
Abu  'Obeidah,  dismounting  from  his  beast,  approached 
the  caliph  in  a  respectful  attitude  ;  but  the  latter,  dis- 
mounting almost  at  the  same  moment,  stooped  to  kiss 


'OMAR  AND  ABU  OBEIDAH.  79 

his  general's  feet,  whereupon  there  ensued  a  contest  of 
humility,  which  was  only  put  an  end  to  by  the  two 
great  men  mutually  consenting  to  embrace  after  the 
usual  fashion  of  Arab  sheikhs  when  meeting  upon  equal 
terms.  A  story  of  'Omar's  compensating  a  man  for 
some  grapes  which  his  followers  had  heedlessly  plucked 
as  they  came  in  from  their  thirsty  ride,  and  several 
other  instances  of  his  great  integrity  and  unassuming 
manners,  are  related  by  the  Arab  historians.  No  doubt 
these  incidents  were,  to  some  extent,  the  offspring  of 
'  the  pride  that  apes  humility  ;'  yet  the  Muslim  sovereign 
really  seems  to  have  possessed  some  good  and  amiable 
qualities. 

'Omar  pitched  his  camp  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
where  he  was  immediately  visited  by  a  messenger  from 
the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  who  sent  to  welcome  him 
and  renew  the  offer  of  capitulation.  This  patriarch  was 
named  Sophronius,  and  was  a  native  of  Damascus. 
He  was  as  remarkable  for  his  zeal  and  erudition  as 
for  the  purity  of  his  life,  which  presented  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  prevailing  immorality  of  the  age.  The 
patriarch's  observation,  upon  first  setting  eyes  on 
'Omar,  was  anything  but  complimentary,  though,  per- 
haps, justified  by  the  meanness  of  the  caliph's  attire  : 
1  Verily,'  said  he,  '  this  is  the  abomination  of  Desola- 
tion, spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  Prophet,  standing  in  the 
Holy  Place.'  The  commander  of  the  faithful  was 
rather  flattered  by  the  remark,  which  the  Arab  historians 
have  construed  into  an  admission  on  the  part  of 
Sophronius  that  the  conquest  of  'Omar  was  foretold  in 
Holy  Writ.  The  armistice  previously  granted  having 
been  confirmed,  and  the  personal  safety  of  the  patriarch 
and  his  immediate  followers  being  guaranteed,  that 
dignitary  set  out  with  a  large  company  of  attendants 


80  JERUSALEM. 

for  the  caliph's  tent,  and  proceeded  to  confer  with  him 
personally,  and  to  draw  up  the  articles  of  peace. 
These  terms,  exacted  from  Jerusalem  in  common  with 
the  other  conquered  cities,  were,  in  spite  of  'Omar's 
boasted  generosity  and  equity,  extremely  hard  and 
humiliating  for  the  Christians.  They  ran  as  follows  : — 
The  Christians  shall  enjoy  security  both  of  person  and 
property,  the  safety  of  their  churches  shall  be,  more- 
over, guaranteed,  and  no  interference  is  to  be  permitted 
on  the  part  of  the  Mohammedans  with  any  of  their 
religious  exercises,  houses,  or  institutions ;  provided 
only  that  such  churches,  or  religious  institutions,  shall 
be  open  night  and  day  to  the  inspection  of  the  Muslim 
authorities.  All  strangers  and  others  are  to  be  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  town  if  they  think  fit,  but  anyone 
electing  to  remain  shall  be  subject  to  the  herein- 
mentioned  stipulations.  No  payment  shall  be  exacted 
from  anyone  until  after  the  gathering  in  of  his  harvest. 
Mohammedans  are  to  be  treated  everywhere  with  the 
greatest  respect ;  the  Christians  must  extend  to  them 
the  rights  of  hospitality,  rise  to  receive  them,  and  accord 
them  the  first  place  of  honour  in  their  assemblies. 
The  Christians  are  to  build  no  new  churches,  convents, 
or  other  religious  edifices,  either  within  or  without  the 
city,  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  Muslim  territory ;  they 
shall  not  teach  their  children  the  Cor'an,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  no  one  shall  be  prevented  from  embracing 
the  Mohammedan  religion.  No  public  exhibition  of 
any  kind  of  the  Christian  religion  is  to  be  permitted. 
They  shall  not  in  any  way  imitate  the  Muslims,  either 
in  dress  or  behaviour,  nor  make  use  of  their  language 
in  writing  or  engraving,  nor  adopt  Muslim  names  or 
appellations.  They  shall  not  carry  arms,  nor  ride 
astride  their  animals,  nor  wear  or  publicly  exhibit  the 


TERMS  OF  CAPITULATION.  81 

sign  of  the  cross.  They  shall  not  make  use  of  bells  ; 
nor  strike  the  ndkus  (wooden  gong),  except  with  a 
suppressed  sound  ;  nor  shall  they  place  their  lamps  in 
public  places,  nor  raise  their  voices  in  lamentation  for 
the  dead.  They  shall  shave  the  front  part  of  the  head, 
and  gird  up  their  dress  ;  and  lastly,  they  shall  never 
intrude  into  any  Muslim's  house  on  any  pretext  what- 
ever. To  these  conditions  'Omar  added  the  following 
clause  to  be  accepted  by  the  Christians  :  That  no 
Christian  should  strike  a  Muslim,  and  that  if  they 
failed  to  comply  with  any  single  one  of  the  previous 
stipulations,  they  should  confess  that  their  lives  were 
justly  forfeit,  and  that  they  were  deserving  of  the 
punishment  inflicted  upon  rebellious  subjects. 

When  these  terms  had  been  agreed  upon  by  both 
sides  and  the  treaty  signed  and  sealed,  'Omar  requested 
the  patriarch  to  lead  him  to  the  Mosque  (Masjid,  or 
1  place  of  adoration  ')  of  David.  The  patriarch  ac- 
ceding to  this  request,  'Omar,  accompanied  by  four 
thousand  attendants,  was  conducted  by  him  into  the 
Holy  City.  They  first  proceeded  to  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,*  which  the  patriarch  pointed  out  as 
the  site  of  David's  temple.  '  Thou  liest,'  said  'Omar, 
curtly,  and  was  proceeding  to  leave  the  spot,  when  the 
hour  of  prayer  arrived,  and  the  caliph  declared  his 
intention  of  retiring  to  perform  his  religious  duties. 
The  patriarch  invited  him  to  pray  where  he  stood  in 
the  church  itself.  This  'Omar  refused  to  do,  and  was 
next  led  to  the  church  of  Constantine,  where  a  sejjddeh, 
or  prayer   mat,   was  spread   for  him.     Declining  this 

*  In  the  original  El  Camdmah,  'dung;'  which  is  explained  a 
little  further  on  to  be  a  designed  corruption  of  the  word  Caiyd?nah, 
'  Anastasis.'  These  words  are  at  the  present  day  applied  by  the 
Muslim  and  Christian  population  respectively  to  the  church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

6 


82  JERUSALEM. 


accommodation  also,  the  caliph  went  outside  the 
church,  and  prayed  alone  upon  the  door-steps.  When 
asked  the  reason  for  his  objection  to  pray  within  the 
church,  he  told  the  patriarch  that  he  had  expressly 
avoided  doing  so,  lest  his  countrymen  should  afterwards 
make  his  act  a  precedent  and  an  excuse  for  confiscat- 
ing the  property.  So  anxious  was  he  not  to  give  the 
least  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  injustice,  that  he 
called  for  pen  and  paper,  and  then  and  there  wrote  a 
document,  which  he  delivered  to  the  patriarch,  forbid- 
ding Muslims  to  pray  even  upon  the  steps  of  the 
church,  except  it  were  one  at  a  time,  and  strictly 
prohibiting  them  from  calling  the  people  to  prayer  at 
the  spot,  or  in  any  way  using  it  as  one  of  their  own 
mosques. 

This  honourable  observance  of  the  stipulations  con- 
tained in  the  treaty,  and  careful  provision  against 
future  aggression  on  the  part  of  his  followers,  cannot 
but  excite  our  admiration  for  the  man.  In  spite  of  the 
great  accession  to  our  knowledge  of  the  literature  of 
this  period  which  has  been  made  during  the  last 
century,  we  doubt  if  the  popular  notions  respecting  the 
Saracen  conquerors  of  Jerusalem  have  been  much 
modified,  and  many  people  still  regard  them  as  a  fierce 
and  inhuman  horde  of  barbarous  savages,  while  the 
Crusaders  are  judged  only  by  the  saintly  figures  that  lie 
cross-legged  upon  some  old  cathedral  brasses,  and  are 
looked  upon  as  beau-ideals  of  chivalry  and  gentle 
Christian  virtue.  But  we  shall  have  occasion  to  recur 
to  this  subject  further  on. 

Leaving  the  church  of  Constantine,  they  next  visited 
that  called  Sion,  which  the  patriarch  again  pointed  out 
as  the  Mosque  of  David,  and  again  'Omar  gave  him 
the  lie.     After  this  they  proceeded   to  the  Masjid  of 


THE  MOSQUE  OF  DA  VID.  83 

Jerusalem,  and  halted  at  the  gate  called  Bab  Mohammed. 
Now,  the  dung  in  the  mosque  had  settled  on  the  steps 
of  the  door  in  such  quantities  that  it  came  out  into  the 
street  in  which  the  door  is  situated,  and  nearly  clung 
to  the  roofed  archway  of  the  street.  Hereupon  the 
patriarch  said,  '  We  shall  never  be  able  to  enter  unless 
we  crawl  upon  our  hands  and  knees.'  '  Well,'  replied 
the  caliph,  '  on  our  hands  and  knees  be  it.'  So  the 
patriarch  led  the  way,  followed  by  'Omar  and  the 
rest  of  the  party,  and  they  crawled  along  until  they 
came  out  upon  the  courtyard  of  the  Temple,  where 
they  could  stand  upright.  Then  'Omar,  having  sur- 
veyed the  place  attentively  for  some  time,  suddenly 
exclaimed :  '  By  Him  in  whose  hands  my  soul  is,  this 
is  the  Mosque  of  David,  from  which  the  prophet  told 
us  that  he  ascended  into  heaven.  He  (upon  whom  be 
peace)  gave  us  a  circumstantial  account  thereof,  and 
especially  mentioned  the  fact  that  we  had  found  upon 
the  Sakhrah  a  quantity  of  dung  which  the  Christians 
had  thrown  there  out  of  spite  to  the  children  of  Israel.'* 
With  these  words  he  stooped  down  and  began  to  brush 
off  the  dung  with  his  sleeve,  and  his  example  being 
followed  by  the  other  Mussulmans  of  the  party,  they 
soon  cleared  all  the  dung  away,  and  brought  the 
Sakhrah  to  light.     Having  done  so,  he  forbade  them 

*  It  needed  no  prophetic  inspiration  to  acquaint  Mohammed 
with  this  fact.  The  site  of  the  Temple  was  not  only  well  known  to 
the  Christians,  but  was  systematically  defiled  by  them  out  of  abhor- 
rence for  the  Jews.  Eutychius  expressly  tells  us  that — 'when 
Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine,  had  built  churches  at  Jerusalem, 
the  site  of  the  rock  and  its  neighbourhood  had  been  laid  waste,  and 
so  left.  But  the  Christians  heaped  dirt  on  the  rock  so  that  there 
was  a  large  dunghill  over  it.  And  so  the  Romans  had  neglected  it, 
nor  given  it  that  honour  which  the  Israelites  had  been  wont  to  pay 
it,  and  had  not  built  a  church  above  it,  because  it  had  been  said  by 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Holy  Gospel,  "  Behold,  your  house 
shall  be  left  unto  you  desolate.'" 

6—2 


84  JERUSALEM. 


to  pray  there  until  three  showers  of  rain  had  fallen 
upon  it. 

Another  account  relates  that,  on  conquering  the  city, 
'Omar  sent  for  Ka'ab,  a  Jew  who  had  been  converted 
to  Mohammedanism  during  the  prophet's  lifetime,  and 
said  to  him,  '  Oh,  Abu  Ishak,  dost  thou  know  the  site 
of  the  Sakhrah  ?'  '  Yes,'  replied  Ka'ab,  'it  is  distant 
such  and  such  a  number  of  cubits  from  the  wall  which 
runs  parallel  to  the  Wady  Jehennum ;  it  is  at  the 
present  time  used  for  a  dunghill.'  Digging  at  the  spot 
indicated,  they  found  the  Sakhrah  as  Ka'ab  had  de- 
scribed. Then  'Omar  asked  Ka'ab  where  he  would 
advise  him  to  place  the  mosque  ?  Ka'ab  answered,  '  I 
should  place  it  behind  the  Sakhrah,  so  that  the  two 
Kiblahs,*  namely,  that  of  Moses  and  that  of  Mo- 
hammed, may  be  made  identical.'  '  Ah,'  said  'Omar, 
'  thou  leanest  still  to  Jewish  notions,  I  see  ;  the  best 
place  for  the  mosque  is  in  front  of  it,'  and  he  built  it  in 
front  accordingly. 

Another  version  of  this  conversation  is,  that  when 
Ka'ab  proposed  to  set  the  praying-place  behind  the 
Sakhrah,  'Omar  reproved  him,  as  has  just  been  stated, 
for  his  Jewish  proclivities,  and  added,  '  Nay,  but  we 
will  place  it  in  the  sudr  ("  breast  or  forepart  "),  for  the 
prophet  ordained  that  the  Kiblah  of  our  mosques 
should  be  in  the  forepart.  I  am  not  ordered,'  said  he, 
*  to  turn  to  the  Sakhrah,  but  to  the  Ka'abah.'  After- 
wards, when  'Omar  had  completed  the  conquest  of 
Jerusalem,  and  cleared  away  the  dirt  from  the  Sakhrah, 
and  the  Christians  had  entered  into  their  engagements 
to  pay  tribute,  the  Muslims  changed  the  name  of  the 
great  Christian  church  from  Caiydmah  (Anastasis)  to 

*  The  Kiblah  is  a  '  point  of  adoration,'  that  is,  the  direction  in 
which  Mecca  lies.  In  the  Mohammedan  mosques  it  is  indicated 
by  a  small  niche  called  a  mihrdb. 


THE  MOSQUE  OF  'OMAR.  85 

Camdmah  (dung),  to  remind  them  of  their  indecent 
treatment  of  the  holy  place,  and  to  further  glorify  the 
Sakhrah  itself. 

The  mosque  erected  by  'Omar  is  described  by  an 
early  pilgrim  who  saw  it  as  a  simple  square  building 
of  timber,  capable  of  holding  three  thousand  people, 
and  constructed  over  the  ruins  of  some  more  ancient 
edifice. 

The  annals  of  the  Mohammedan  Empire  during  the 
next  forty-eight  years,  although  fraught  with  stirring 
events,  bear  but  little  on  the  history  of  Jerusalem  itself; 
and  although  the  visit  of  'Omar  had  impressed  the 
followers  of  the  Cor'an  with  the  idea  that  they  pos- 
sessed an  equal  interest  in  the  Holy  City  with  the 
adherents  of  the  Law  and  the  Gospel,  still  their  devo- 
tion to  the  Temple  of  Mecca  and  their  prophet's  tomb 
at  Medina  was  too  deeply  rooted  to  leave  them  much 
reverence  for  the  Masjid  el  Aksa.  But  political  exi- 
gencies did  what  religious  enthusiasm  had  failed  to 
accomplish,  and  in  684  a.d.,  in  the  reign  of  'Abd  el 
Melik,  the  ninth  successor  of  Mohammed,  and  the  fifth 
caliph  of  the  House  of  Omawiyah,  events  happened 
which  once  more  turned  people's  attention  to  the  City 
of  David. 

For  eight  years  the  Mussulman  Empire  had  been  dis- 
tracted by  factions  and  party  quarrels.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  two  holy  cities,  Mecca  and  Medina,  had  risen 
against  the  authority  of  the  legitimate  caliphs,  and  had 
proclaimed  'Abdallah  ibn  Zobeir  their  spiritual  and 
temporal  head.  Yezid  and  Ma'awiyeh  had  in  vain  at- 
tempted to  suppress  the  insurrection  ;  the  usurper  had 
contrived  to  make  his  authority  acknowledged  through- 
out Arabia  and  the  African  provinces,  and  had  estab- 
lished the  seat  of  his  government  at  Mecca  itself.    'Abd 


86  JERUSALEM. 


el  Melik  trembled  for  his  own  rule  ;  year  after  year 
crowds  of  pilgrims  would  visit  the  Ka'abah,  and  Ibn 
Zobeir's  religious  and  political  influence  would  thus 
become  disseminated  throughout  the  whole  of  Islam. 
In  order  to  avoid  these  consequences,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  weaken  his  rival's  prestige,  'Abd  el  Melik  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  diverting  men's  minds  from  the 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and  inducing  them  to  make  the 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  instead.  This  was  an  easier 
task  than  might  have  been  at  first  supposed. 

The  frequent  mention  of  Jerusalem  in  the  Cor'an,  its 
intimate  connection  with  those  Scriptural  events  which 
Mohammed  taught  as  part  and  parcel  of  his  own  faith, 
and,  lastly,  the  prophet's  pretended  night  journey  to 
Heaven  from  the  Holy  Rock  of  Jerusalem — these  were 
points  which  appealed  directly  to  the  Mohammedan 
mind,  and  to  all  these  considerations  was  added  the 
charm  of  novelty — novelty,  too,  with  the  sanction  of 
antiquity — and  we  need  not,  therefore,  wonder  that 
the  caliph's  appeal  to  his  subjects  met  with  a  ready  and 
enthusiastic  response. 

Having  determined  upon  this  course,  he  sent  circular 
letters  to  every  part  of  his  dominions,  couched  in  the 
following  terms : 

*  'Abd  el  Melik  desiring  to  build  a  dome  over  the 
Holy  Rock  of  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  shelter  the  Muslims 
from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  and,  moreover, 
wishing  to  restore  the  Masjid,  requests  his  subjects  to 
acquaint  him  with  their  wishes  on  the  matter,  as  he 
would  be  sorry  to  undertake  so  important  a  matter 
without  consulting  their  opinion.' 

Letters  of  approval  and  congratulation  flowed  in 
upon  the  caliph  from  all  quarters,  and  he  accordingly 
assembled  a  number  of  the  most  skilled  artisans,  and 


lABD  EL  MELIK.  87 


set  apart  for  the  proposed  work  a  sum  of  money  equiv- 
alent in  amount  to  the  whole  revenue  of  Egypt  for 
seven  years.  For  the  safe  custody  of  this  immense 
treasure  he  built  a  small  dome,  the  same  which  exists 
at  the  present  day  to  the  east  of  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah, 
and  is  called  Cubbet  es  Silsilah.  This  little  dome  he 
himself  designed,  and  personally  gave  the  architect  in- 
structions as  to  its  minutest  details.  When  finished, 
he  was  so  pleased  with  the  general  effect  that  he  ordered 
the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah  itself  to  be  built  on  precisely 
the  same  model. 

Having  completed  his  treasure-house,  and  filled  it 
with  wealth,  he  appointed  Rija  ibn  Haiyah  el  Kendi 
controller  thereof,  with  Yezid  ibn  Sallam,  a  native  of 
Jerusalem,  as  his  coadjutor.  These  two  persons  were 
to  make  all  disbursements  necessary  for  the  works,  and 
were  enjoined  to  expend  the  entire  amount  upon  them, 
regulating  the  outlay  as  occasion  might  require.  They 
commenced  with  the  erection  of  the  Cubbeh,  beginning 
on  the  east  side  and  finishing  at  the  west,  until  the 
whole  was  so  perfect  that  no  one  was  able  to  suggest 
an  addition  or  an  improvement.  Similarly  in  the  build- 
ings in  the  fore  part  of  the  Masjid,*  that  is,  on  the 
south  side,  they  worked  from  east  to  west,  commencing 
with  the  wall  by  which  is  the  Mehd  'Aisa  (cradle  of 
Jesus),  and  carrying  it  on  the  spot  now  known  as  the 
Jam'i  el  Magharibeh. 

On  the  completion  of  the  work,  Rija  and  Yezid  ad- 
dressed the  following  letter  to  'Abd  el  Melik,  who  was 
then  at  Damascus  : 

'  In  accordance  with  the  orders  given  by  the  Com- 
mander of  the  Faithful,  the  building  of  the  Dome  of 
the  Rock  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Masjid  el  Aksa  is  now 
*  See  p.  92. 


88  JERUSALEM. 


so  complete  that  nothing  more  can  be  desired.  After 
paying  all  the  expenses  of  the  building  there  still 
remains  in  hand  a  hundred  thousand  dinars  of  the  sum 
originally  deposited  with  us;  this  amount  the  Com- 
mander of  the  Faithful  will  expend  in  such  manner  as 
may  seem  good  to  him.' 

The  caliph  replied  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  appro- 
priate the  sum  to  themselves  in  consideration  of  their 
services  in  superintending  the  financial  department  of 
the  works.  The  two  commissioners,  however,  declined 
this  proposition,  and  again  offered  to  place  it  at  the 
caliph's  disposal,  with  the  addition  of  the  ornaments 
belonging  to  their  women  and  the  surplus  of  their  own 
private  property.  'Abd  el  Melik,  on  receipt  of  their 
answer,  bade  them  melt  up  the  money  in  question,  and 
apply  it  to  the  ornamentation  of  the  Cubbeh.  This 
they  accordingly  did,  and  the  effect  is  said  to  have 
been  so  magnificent  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  to 
keep  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  dome,  owing  to  the  quantity 
of  gold  with  which  it  was  ornamented.  They  then 
prepared  a  covering  of  felt  and  leather,  which  they  put 
upon  it  in  winter  time  to  protect  it  from  the  wind,  and 
rain,  and  snow.  Rija  and  Yezid  also  surrounded  the 
Sakhrah  itself  with  a  latticed  screen  of  ebony,  and 
hung  brocaded  curtains  behind  the  screen  between  the 
columns.  It  is  said  that  in  the  days  of  'Abd  el  Melik 
a  precious  pearl,  the  horn  of  Abraham's  ram,  and  the 
crown  of  the  Khosroes,  were  attached  to  the  chain 
which  is  suspended  in  the  centre  of  the  dome,  but 
when  the  caliphate  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Beni 
Hashem  they  removed  these  relics  to  Ka'abah. 

When  the  Masjid  was  quite  completed  and  thrown 
open  for  public  service,  no  expense  or  trouble  was 
spared   to    make    it    as    attractive  as    possible  to  the 


COMPLETION  OF  THE  MAS  J  ID.  89 

worshippers.  Every  morning  a  number  of  attendants 
were  employed  in  pounding  saffron,  and  in  making  per- 
fumed water  with  which  to  sprinkle  the  mosque,  as 
well  as  in  preparing  and  burning  incense.  Servants  were 
also  sent  into  the  Hammam  Suleiman  ('  Solomon's 
bath')  to  cleanse  it  out  thoroughly.  Having  done  this, 
they  used  to  go  into  the  store-room  in  which  the 
Khaliik*  was  kept,  and  changing  their  clothes  for  fresh 
ones  of  various  costly  stuffs,  and  putting  jewelled  girdles 
round  their  waists,  and  taking  the  Khaluk  in  their 
hands,  they  proceeded  to  dab  it  all  over  the  Sakhrah  as 
far  as  they  could  reach ;  and  when  they  could  not 
reach  with  their  hands  they  washed  their  feet  and 
stepped  upon  the  Sakhrah  itself  until  they  had  dabbed 
it  all  over,  and  emptied  the  pots  of  Khaluk.  Then 
they  brought  censers  of  gold  and  silver  filled  with 
'ud  (perfumed  aloes  wood)  and  other  costly  kinds  of 
incense,  with  which  they  perfumed  the  entire  place, 
first  letting  down  the  curtains  round  all  the  pillars,  and 
walking  round  them  until  the  incense  filled  the  place 
between  them  and  the  dome,  and  then  fastening  them 
up  again  so  that  the  incense  escaped  and  filled  the 
entire  building,  even  penetrating  into  the  neighbouring 
bazaar,  so  that  anyone  who  passed  that  way  could 
smell  it.  After  this  proclamation  was  made  in  the 
public  market,  '  The  Sakhrah  is  now  open  for  public 
worship/  and  people  would  run  in  such  crowds  to  pray 
there,  that  two  rcka'as  was  as  much  as  most  men 
could  accomplish,  and  it  was  only  a  very  few  who  could 
succeed  in  performing  four. 

So   strongly   was   the    building   perfumed    with    the 
incense,  that  one  who  had  been  into  it  could  at  once  be 
detected  by  the  odour,  and  people  used  to  say  as  they 
A  species  of  aromatic  plant  rather  larger  than  saffron. 


90  JERUSALEM. 


sniffed  it,  '  Ah  !  So  and  So  has  been  in  the  Sakhrah.' 
So  great,  too,  was  the  throng,  that  people  could  not 
perform  their  ablutions  in  the  orthodox  manner, 
but  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  washing 
the  soles  of  their  feet  with  water,  wiping  them  with 
green  sprigs  of  myrtle,  and  drying  them  with  their 
pocket-handkerchiefs.  The  doors  were  all  locked,  ten 
chamberlains  were  posted  at  each  door,  and  the  mosque 
was  only  opened  twice  a  week — namely,  on  Mondays 
and  Fridays  ;  on  other  days  none  but  the  attendants 
were  allowed  access  to  the  buildings. 

Ibn  'Asakir,  who  visited  Jerusalem  early  in  the 
twelfth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  tells  us  that  there 
were  6,000  planks  of  wood  in  the  Masjid  used  for  roofing 
and  flooring,  exclusive  of  wooden  pillars.  It  also 
contained  fifty  doors,  amongst  which  were  :  Bab  el 
Cortobi  (the  gate  of  the  Cordovan),  Bab  Daud  (the 
gate  of  David),  Bab  Suleiman  (the  gate  of  Solomon), 
Bab  Mohammed  (the  gate  of  Mohammed),  Bab  Hettah 
(the  gate  of  Remission*),  Bab  el  Taubah  (the  gate  of 
Reconciliation),  where  God  was  reconciled  to  David 
after  his  sin  with  Bathsheba,  Bab  er  Rahmeh  (the  gate 
of  Mercy),  six  gates  called  Abwab  al  Asbat  (the  gates  of 
the  tribes),  Bab  el  Walid  (the  gate  of  Wah'd),  Bab  el 
Hashimi  (the  gate  of  the  Hashem  family),  Bab  el 
Khidhir  (the  gate  of  St.  George  or  Elias),  and  Bab  es 
Sekinah  (the  gate  of  the  Shekina).  There  were  also  600 
marble  pillars  ;  seven  mihrabs  (or  prayer  niches)  ; 
385  chains  for  lamps,  of  which  230  were  in  the  Masjid 
el  Aksa,  and  the  rest  in  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah  ;  the 
accumulative  length  of  the  chains  was  4,000  cubits,  and 
their   weight  43,000  ratals   (Syrian   measure).      There 

*  Cf.  Cor'an,  cap.  ii.  v.  55,  'Enter  the  gate  with  adoration,  and 
say  "  Remission."' 


COMPLETION  OF  THE  MAS  J  ID. 


were  also  5,000  lamps,  in  addition  to  which  they  used  to 
light  1,000  wax  candles  every  Friday,  and  on  the  night 
of  the  middle  months  Rejeb,  Sha'ban  and  Ramadhan, 
as  well  as  on  the  nights  of  the  two  great  festivals. 
There  were  fifteen  domes,  or  oratories,  exclusive  of  the 
Cubbet  es  Sakhrah;  and  on  the  roof  of  the  mosque 
itself  were  7,700  strips  of  lead,  and  the  weight  of  each 
strip  was  70  Syrian  ratals.  This  was  exclusive  of  the 
lead  which  was  upon  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah.  There 
were  four-and-twenty  large  cisterns  in  the  Masjid,  and 
four  minarets — three  in  a  line  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Masjid,  and  one  over  the  Babel  Esbat. 

All  the  above  work  was  done  in  the  days  of  'Abd  el 
Melik  ibn  Merwan.  The  same  prince  appointed  three 
hundred  perpetual  attendants  to  the  mosque,  slaves 
purchased  with  a  fifth  of  the  revenue ;  and  whenever 
one  of  these  died,  there  was  appointed  in  his  stead 
either  his  son,  grandson,  or  some  one  of  the  family,  and 
the  office  was  made  hereditary  so  long  as  the  generation 
lasted.  There  were  also  Jewish  servants  employed  in 
the  Masjid,  and  these  were  exempted,  on  account  of 
their  services,  from  payment  of  the  capitation-tax ; 
originally  they  were  ten  in  number,  but,  as  their 
families  sprung  up,  they  increased  to  twenty.  Their 
business  was  to  sweep  out  the  Masjid  all  the  year 
round,  and  to  clean  out  the  lavatories  round  about  it. 
Besides  these,  there  were  ten  Christian  servants  also 
attached  to  the  place  in  perpetuity,  and  transmitting 
the  office  to  their  children  ;  their  business  was  to  brush 
the  mats,  and  to  sweep  out  the  conduits  and  cisterns. 
A  number  of  Jewish  servants  were  also  employed  in 
making  glass  lamps,  candelabras,  etc.  (These  and 
their  families  were  also  exempted  in  perpetuity  from 
tax,  and  the  same  privilege  was  accorded  to  those  who 
made  the  lampwicks.) 


92  JERUSALEM. 


Ibn  'Asakir  informs  us  that  the  length  of  the  Masjid 
el  Aksa  was  755  cubits,  and  the  breadth  465  cubits,  the 
standard  employed  being  the  royal  cubit.  The  author 
of  the  '  Muthir  el  Gharam  '  declares  that  he  found  on 
the  inner  surface  of  the  north  wall  of  the  Haram,  over 
the  door,  which  is  behind  the  Bab  ed  Dowaidariyeh,  a 
stone  tablet,  on  which  the  length  of  the  Masjid  was  re- 
corded as  784  cubits,  and  its  breadth  as  455  ;  it  did  not, 
however,  state  whether  or  no  the  standard  employed 
was  the  royal  cubit.  The  same  author  informs  us  that 
he  himself  measured  the  Masjid  with  a  rope,  and  found 
that  in  length  it  was  683  cubits  on  the  east  side,  and 
650  on  the  west ;  and  in  breadth  it  was  438  cubits, 
exclusive  of  the  breadth  of  the  wall. 

'Abdallah  Yacut  el  Hamawi,  a  Christian  Arab  writer 
of  the  twelfth  century,  tells  us  that  the  substructure  of 
the  Jewish  Temple  served  for  the  foundations  of  'Abd 
el  Melik's  edifice,  and  that  that  monarch  built  a  wall  of 
smaller  stones  upon  the  more  massive  ancient  blocks. 
The  great  substructures  at  the  south-west  angle  are 
said  to  be  the  work  of 'Abd  el  Melik,  who  is  reported  to 
have  made  them  in  order  to  obtain  a  platform  on  which 
to  erect  the  El  Aksa.* 

In  order  to  understand  the  native  accounts  of  the 
sacred  area  at  Jerusalem,  it  is  essentially  necessary  to 
keep  in  mind  the  proper  application  of  the  various 
names  by  which  it  is  spoken  of.  When  the  Masjid  el 
Aksa  is  mentioned,  that  name  is  usually  supposed 
to  refer  to  the  well-known  mosque  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Haram,  but  such  is  not  really  the  case.  The  latter 
building  is  called  El  Jami  el  Aksa,  or  simply  El  Aksa, 
and  the  substructures  are  called  El  Aksa  el  Kadimeh 
(the  ancient  Aksa),  while  the  title  El  Masjid  el  Aksa  is 
*   Vide  M.  de  Vogue,  p.  76. 


COMPLETION  OF  THE  MASJID.  93 

applied  to  the  whole  sanctuary.  The  word  jdmH  is 
exactly  equivalent  in  sense  to  the  Greek  awaycoyrj,  and 
is  applied  only  to  the  church  or  building  in  which  the 
worshippers  congregate.  Masjid,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
a  much  more  general  term  ;  it  is  derived  from  the  verb 
sejada,  '  to  adore,'  and  is  applied  to  any  spot,  the  sacred 
character  of  which  would  especially  incite  the  visitor  to 
an  act  of  devotion.  Our  word  mosque  is  a  corruption  of 
masjid,  but  it  is  usually  misapplied,  as  the  building  is 
never  so  designated,  although  the  whole  area  on  which 
it  stands  may  be  so  spoken  of. 

The  Jam'i  el  Aksa,  Jam'i  el  Magharibeh,   etc.,  are 
mosques  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  but  the  entire  Haram 
is  a  masjid.     This  will  explain  what  is  meant  by  saying 
that  'Omar,  after  visiting  the  churches  of  the  Anastasis, 
Sion,  etc.,  was  taken   to  the    'Masjid'  of  Jerusalem ; 
and  will  account  for  the  statement  of  Ibn  el   'Asakir 
and  others  that  the  Masjid  el  Aska  measured  over  six 
hundred  cubits  in  length — that  is,  the  length   of  the 
whole    Haram    area.      The  name   Masjid    el   Aksa    is 
borrowed  from  the  passage    in   the    Cor'an    (xvii.    i), 
where    allusion  is  made    to   the   pretended    ascent    of 
Mohammed  into  heaven  from  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  : 
'Praise  be  unto  Him  who  transported  His  servant  by 
night  from  El  Masjid  el  Haram  (i.e.,  'the  Sacred  place 
of  Adoration,'  at  Mecca)  to  El  Masjid  el  Aksa  (i.e.,  'the 
Remote  place    of  Adoration'   at  Jerusalem),  the  pre- 
cincts of  which  we   have  blessed,'  etc.     The  title  El 
Aksa,  'the  Remote,'   according  to  the  Mohammedan 
doctors,  is  applied  to  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  '  either 
because    of  its  distance  from   Mecca,  or  because  it  is 
in  the  centre    of  the    earth.'      The    title    Haram,   or 
'  sanctuary,'  it  enjoys  in  common  with  those  of  Mecca, 
Medina,  and  Hebron. 


94  JERUSALEM. 


As  M.  de  Vogue  has  pointed  out,  the  Cubbet  es 
Sakhrah,  notwithstanding  its  imposing  proportions,  is 
not,  properly  speaking,  a  mosque,  and  is  not  con- 
structed with  a  view  to  the  celebration  of  public 
prayers  and  services.  It  is  only  an  oratory,  one  of  the 
numerous  cubbehs  with  which  the  Haram  es  Sherif 
abounds — domed  edifices  that  mark  the  various  spots  to 
which  traditions  cling.  The  form  is,  in  fact,  almost 
identical  with  that  of  an  ordinary  Muslim  welt,  or 
saint's  tomb.  El  Jam'i  el  Aksa  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  mosque  designed  expressly  for  the  accommodation  of 
a  large  congregation,  assembled  for  public  worship,  and 
resembling  in  its  architectural  details  the  celebrated 
mosques  of  Constantinople  or  elsewhere. 

The  erection  of  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  Jam'i  el 
Aksa,  and  the  restoration  of  the  temple  area  by  'Abd  el 
Melik,  are  recorded  in  a  magnificent  Cufic  inscription 
in  mosaic,  running  round  the  colonnade  of  the  first- 
mentioned  building.  The  name  of  'Abd  el  Melik  has 
been  purposely  erased,  and  that  of  'Abdallah  el  Mamun 
fraudulently  substituted  ;  but  the  shortsighted  forger 
has  omitted  to  erase  the  date,  as  well  as  the  name  of 
the  original  founder,  and  the  inscription  still  remains 
a  contemporary  record  of  the  munificence  of  'Abd  el 
Melik.     The  translation  is  as  follows  : 

'  In  the  name  of  God,  the  Merciful,  the  Com- 
passionate !  There  is  no  god  but  God  alone ;  He  hath 
no  partner ;  His  is  the  kingdom,  His  the  praise.  He 
giveth  life  and  death,  for  He  is  the  Almighty.  In  the 
name  of  God  the  Merciful,  the  Compassionate !  There 
is  no  god  but  God  alone  ;  He  hath  no  partner ; 
Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  God  ;  pray  God  for  him. 
The  servant  of  God  'Abdallah,  the  Imam  al  Mamun 
[read  'Abd    el   Melik] ,    Commander   of   the    Faithful, 


INSCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOUNDER.  95 

built  this  dome  in  the  year  72  (a.d.  691).  May  God  accept 
it  at  his  hand,  and  be  content  with  him,  Amen  !  The 
restoration  is  complete,  and  to  God  be  the  praise.  In 
the  name  of  God,  the  Merciful,  the  Compassionate  ! 
There  is  no  god  but  God  alone ;  He  hath  no  partner. 
Say  He  is  the  one  God,  the  Eternal ;  He  neither 
begetteth  nor  is  begotten,  and  there  is  no  one  like  Him. 
Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  God  ;  pray  God  for  him. 
In  the  name  of  God,  the  Merciful,  the  Compassionate  ! 
There  is  no  god  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  the  Apostle 
of  God  ;  pray  God  for  him.  Verily,  God  and  His 
angels,  pray  for  the  Prophet.  Oh  ye  who  believe, 
pray  for  him,  and  salute  ye  him  with  salutations  of 
peace.  In  the  name  of  God,  the  Merciful,  the  Com- 
passionate !  There  is  no  god  but  God  alone  ;  to  Him 
be  praise,  who  taketh  not  unto  Himself  a  son,  and  to 
whom  none  can  be  a  partner  in  His  kingdom,  and 
whose  patron  no  lower  creature  can  be  ;  magnify  ye 
Him.  Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  God  ;  God,  and 
His  angels,  and  apostles  pray  for  him  ;  and  peace  be 
upon  him,  and  the  mercy  of  God.  In  the  name  of 
God,  the  Merciful,  the  Compassionate  !  There  is  no 
god  but  God  alone  ;  He  hath  no  partner ;  His  is  the 
kingdom,  and  His  the  praise ;  He  giveth  life  and 
death,  for  He  is  Almighty.  Verily,  God  and  his 
angels,  pray  for  the  Prophet.  Oh  ye  who  believe, 
pray  for  him  and  salute  him  with  salutations  of 
peace.  Oh  ye  who  have  received  the  Scriptures,  ex- 
ceed not  the  bounds  in  your  religion,  and  speak  not  aught 
but  truth  concerning  God.  Verily,  Jesus  Christ,  the  son 
of  Mary,  is  the  Apostle  of  God,  and  His  word  which  He 
cast  over  Mary,  and  a  spirit  from  Him.  Then  believe 
in  God  and  His  apostles,  and  do  not  say  there  are 
three  gods ;  forbear,  and  it  will  be  better  for  you.     God 


JERUSALEM. 


is  but  One.  Far  be  it  from  Him  that  He  should  have 
a  son.  To  Him  belongeth  whatsoever  is  in  the  heaven 
and  in  the  earth,  and  God  is  a  sufficient  protector. 
Christ  does  not  disdain  to  be  a  servant  of  God,  nor  do 
the  angels  who  are  near  the  throne.  Whosoever, 
then,  disdains  His  service,  and  is  puffed  up  with  pride, 
God  shall  gather  them  all  at  the  last  day.  O  God, 
pray  for  Thy  apostle  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary  ;  peace  be 
upon  me  the  day  I  am  born,  and  the  day  I  die,  and  the 
day  I  am  raised  to  life  again.  That  is  Jesus,  the  son 
of  Mary,  concerning  whom  ye  doubt.  It  is  not  for  God 
to  take  unto  Himself  a  son  ;  far  be  it  from  Him.  If 
He  decree  a  thing,  He  doth  but  say  unto  it,  Be,  and  it 
is.  God  is  my  Lord  and  yours.  Serve  Him,  this  is  the 
right  way.  God  hath  testified  that  there  is  no  god  but 
He,  and  the  angels,  and  beings  endowed  with  know- 
ledge (testify  it),  He  executeth  righteousness.  There  is 
no  God  but  He,  the  Mighty,  the  Wise.  Verily,  the 
true  religion  in  the  sight  of  God  is  Islam.  Say  praise 
be  to  God,  who  taketh  not  unto  Himself  a  son  ;  whose 
partner  in  the  kingdom  none  can  be  ;  whose  patron  no 
lower  creature  can  be.     Magnify  ye  Him  !'* 

'Abd  el  Melik  died  on  the  8th  of  September,  705  a.d., 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Walid.  During  that 
prince's  reign  the  eastern  portion  of   the   Masjid  fell 

*  This  inscription,  which  is  composed  chiefly  of  Coranic  texts,  is 
interesting  both  from  an  historical  point  of  view,  and  as  showing  the 
spirit  in  which  Christianity  was  regarded  by  the  Muslims  of  these 
early  times.  It  has  never  before  been  published  in  its  entirety.  Its 
preservation  during  the  subsequent  Christian  occupation  of  the  city 
may  occasion  some  surprise,  as  the  Latins  (by  which  the  Cubbet  es 
Sakhrah  was  turned  into  a  church)  could  not  but  have  been  offended 
at  quotations  which  so  decidedly  deny  the  Divinity  of  Christ  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  Curie 
character,  in  which  it  is  written,  was  as  unintelligible  to  the 
Christian  natives  of  that  time,  as  it  is  now,  even  to  most  of  the 
learned  Muslims  of  the  present  day. 


EARTHQUAKE.  97 


into  ruins  ;  and  as  there  were  no  funds  in  the  treasury 
available  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  it,  Walid  ordered 
the  requisite  amount  to  be  levied  from  his  subjects. 

On  the  death  of  Walid,  the  caliphate  passed  into  the 
hands  of  his  brother  Suleiman,  who  was  at  Jerusalem 
when  the  messengers  came  to  him  to  announce  his 
accession  to  the  throne. 

He  received  them  in  the  Masjid  itself,  sitting  in  one 
of  the  domes  in  the  open  court — probably  in  that  now 
called  Cubbet  Suleiman,  which  is  behind  the  Cubbet  es 
Sakhrah,  near  the  Bab  ed  Duweidariyel.  He  died  at 
Jerusalem,  after  a  short  reign  of  three  years,  and  was 
succeeded  (a.d.  717)  by  'Omar  ibn  Abd  el  'Aziz,  sur- 
named  El  Mehdi.  It  is  related  that  this  prince  dis- 
missed the  Jews  who  had  been  hitherto  employed  in 
lighting  up  the  sanctuary,  and  put  in  their  places  some 
of  the  slaves  before-mentioned  as  having  been  pur- 
chased by  'Abd  el  Melik,  at  the  price  of  a  fifth  of  the 
treasury  (El  Khums).  One  of  these  last  came  to  the 
caliph,  and  begged  him  to  emancipate  him. 

'  I  have  no  power  to  do  so,'  replied  'Omar.  '  But 
look  you,  if  you  choose  to  go  of  your  own  accord,  I 
claim  no  right  over  a  single  hair  of  your  head.' 

In  the  reign  of  the  second  'Abbasside  caliph,  Abu 
Ja'afer  Mansur  (a.d.  755),  a  severe  earthquake  shook 
Jerusalem ;  and  the  southern  portion  of  the  Haram  es 
Sherif,  standing  as  it  did  upon  an  artificially-raised 
platform,  suffered  most  severely  from  the  shock.  In 
order  to  meet  the  expense  of  repairing  the  breaches 
thus  made,  the  caliph  ordered  the  gold  and  silver  plates, 
with  which  the  munificence  of  'Abd  el  Melik  had 
covered  the  doors  of  the  Masjid,  to  be  stripped  off, 
converted  into  coin,  and  applied  to  the  restoration  of 
the  edifice.     The  part  restored  was  not,  however,  des- 

7 


98  JERUSALEM. 

tined  to  last  long ;  for  during  the  reign  of  El  Mehdi, 
his  son  and  successor,  the  mosque  had  again  fallen  into 
ruins,  and  was  rebuilt  by  the  caliph  upon  a  different 
plan,  the  width  being  increased  at  the  expense  of  the 
length. 

The  foundation,  by  the  Caliph  Mansur,  of  the  im- 
perial city  of  Baghdad,  upon  the  banks  of  the  Tigris, 
and  the  removal  of  the  government  from  Damascus 
thither,  was  very  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the 
Christian  population  of  Syria,  who  were  now  treated 
with  great  harshness,  deprived  of  the  privileges  granted 
them  by  former  monarchs,  and  subjected  to  every  form 
of  extortion  and  persecution. 

In  786  the  celebrated  Harun  er  Rashid,  familiar  to 
us  as  the  hero  of  the  'Arabian  Nights,'  succeeded  his 
father,  El  Hadi,  in  the  caliphate. 

This  prince  was  illustrious  alike  for  his  military  suc- 
cesses and  his  munificent  patronage  of  learning  and 
science  ;  and  although  his  glory  is  sullied  by  one  act 
of  barbarity  and  jealous  meanness — the  murder  of  his 
friend  and  minister,  Ja'afer  el  Barmaki,  and  the  whole 
of  the  Barmecide  family — he  seems  to  have  well 
merited  his  title  of  Er  Rashid,  '  the  Orthodox,'  or 
<  Upright.' 

The  cordial  relations  between  the  East  and  West, 
brought  about  by  his  alliance  with  the  Emperor  Char- 
lemagne, were  productive  of  much  good  to  the  Christian 
community  in  Syria  and  Palestine,  and  more  especially  in 
Jerusalem,  where  churches  were  restored,  and  hospices 
and  other  charitable  institutions  founded,  by  the  muni- 
ficence of  the  Frank  emperor. 

In  the  year  796  new  and  unexpected  troubles  came 
upon  Palestine.  A  civil  war  broke  out  between  two 
of  the  border-tribes — the  Beni  Yoktan  and  the  Ismael- 


THE  ARAB  CHARACTER.  99 

iyeh — and  the  country  was  devastated  by  hordes  of 
savage  Bedawin.  The  towns  and  villages  of  the  west 
were  either  sacked  or  destroyed,  the  roads  were 
rendered  impassable  by  hostile  bands,  and  those  places 
which  had  not  suffered  from  the  incursions  of  the 
barbarians  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  protracted  siege. 
Even  Jerusalem  itself  was  threatened,  and,  but  for  the 
bravery  of  its  garrison,  would  have  again  been  pillaged 
and  destroyed.  The  monasteries  in  the  Jordan  valley 
experienced  the  brunt  of  the  Arabs'  attack,  and  one 
after  another  was  sacked  ;  and,  last  of  all,  that  of  Mar 
Saba — which,  from  its  position,  had  hitherto  been 
deemed  impregnable — succumbed  to  a  blockade,  and 
many  of  the  inmates  perished. 

On  the  death  of  Harun,  his  three  sons  contended 
fiercely  for  the  throne ;  the  Mussulman  empire  was 
again  involved  in  civil  dissensions,  and  Palestine,  as 
usual,  suffered  most  severely  in  the  wars.  The  churches 
and  monasteries  in  and  around  Jerusalem  were  again 
laid  waste,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  Christian  popula- 
tion was  obliged  to  seek  safety  in  flight. 

El  Mamun,  having  at  last  triumphed  over  his  brothers 
and  established  himself  firmly  in  the  caliphate,  applied 
his  mind  with  great  ardour  to  the  cultivation  of 
literature,  art,  and  science.  It  was  at  his  expense,  and 
by  his  orders,  that  the  works  of  the  Greek  philosophers 
were  translated  into  the  Arabic  language  by  'Abd  el 
Messiah  el  Kendi,  who,  although  a  Christian  by  birth 
and  profession,  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  at  the 
Court  of  Baghdad,  where  he  was  honoured  with  the 
title  of  Feilsuf  el  Islam — '  The  Philosopher  of  Moham- 
medanism.' 

Since  their  establishment  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris, 
the  Abbasside  caliphs  had    departed  widely  from  the 

7—2 


ioo  JERUSALEM. 


ancient  traditions  of  their  race  :  and  the  warlike  ardour 
and  stern  simplicity,  which  had  won  so  vast  an  empire 
for  'Omar  and  his  contemporaries,  presently  gave  way 
to  effeminate  luxury  and  useless  extravagance.  But 
although  this  change  was  gradually  undermining  their 
power,  and  tending  to  the  physical  degeneracy  of  the 
race,  it  was  not  unproductive  of  good ;  and  the 
immense  riches  and  careless  liberality  of  the  caliphs 
attracted  to  the  Court  of  Baghdad  the  learned  men 
of  the  Eastern  world.  The  Arabs  were  not  an  inven- 
tive, but  they  were  eminently  an  acquisitive,  people, 
and, 

'  Grsecia  capta  ferum  victorem  cepit,; 

the  nations  conquered  by  their  arms  were  made  to  yield 
up   intellectual  as  well  as  material  spoils.     They  had 
neither  art,  literature,  nor  science  of  themselves,  and 
yet  we  are  indebted  to  them  for  all  three  ;    for  what 
others  produced  and  neglected,  they  seized  upon  and 
made  their  own.     Born  in  the  black  shapeless  '  tents  of 
Shem,'   and  nursed  amidst    monotonous  scenery,  the 
Arabs  could  conceive  no  grander  structure  than  the 
massive  tetragonal  Ka'abah  ;  but  Persia  was  made  to 
supply  them  with  the  graceful  forms  and  harmonious 
colours  suggested  by  the  flower-gardens  of  Iran.*     The 
art    of  painting,    cultivated  with  so   much  success  in 
Persia  even  at  the  present  day,  found  but  little  favour 
with  the  iconoclast  followers  of  Mohammed ;    but  its 
influence    is    seen    in   the  perfection    to   which    mural 
decoration,  writing,  and  illumination  have  been  brought 
by   the   professors    of    Islam.     Caligraphy    has    been 
cultivated  in    the    East   to    an    extent  which    can    be 

*  Nearly  all  the  technical  terms  used  in  Arab  architecture  are 
Persian— an  additional  proof  that  the  so-called  Saracenic  style  is  of 
foreign  and  not  native  origin. 


RESTORATION  OF  THE  HARAM  BUILDINGS.      101 

scarcely  conceived  in  this  country  ;  and  the  rules  which 
govern  that  science  are,  though  more  precise,  founded 
on  aesthetic  principles  as  correct  as  those  of  fine  art- 
criticism  here. 

A  people  whose  hereditary  occupation  was  war  and 
plunder,  and  who  looked  upon  commerce  as  a  degrad- 
ing and  slavish  pursuit,  were  not  likely  to  make  much 
progress,  even  in  simple  arithmetic  ;  yet,  when  it  was 
no  longer  a  mere  question  of  dividing  the  spoils  of  a 
caravan,  but  of  administering  the  revenues  and  regulat- 
ing the  frontiers  of  conquered  countries,  then  the 
Saracens  both  appreciated  and  employed  the  exact 
mathematical  sciences  of  India. 

*  The  Arabs'  registers  are  the  verses  of  their  bards,' 
was  the  motto  of  their  Bedawin  forefathers,  but  the 
rude  lays  of  border-warfare  and  pastoral  life  were  soon 
found  unsuited  to  their  more  refined  ideas ;  while  even 
the  cultivation  of  their  own  rich  and  complex  language 
was  insufficient  to  satisfy  their  literary  taste  and  crav- 
ing for  intellectual  exercise.  Persia  therefore  was 
again  called  in  to  their  aid,  and  the  rich  treasures  of 
historical  and  legendary  lore  were  ransacked  and  laid 
bare,  while  later  on  the  philosophy  and  speculative 
science  of  the  Greeks  were  eagerly  sought  after  and 
studied. 

Jerusalem  also  profited  by  Mamun's  peaceful  rule 
and  aesthetic  tastes,  and  the  Haram  buildings  were 
thoroughly  restored.  So  completely  was  this  done  that 
the  Masjid  may  be  also  said  to  owe  its  present  existence 
to  El  Mamun  ;  for  had  it  not  been  for  his  care  and 
munificence,  it  must  have  fallen  into  irreparable  decay. 
I  have  already  mentioned  the  substitution  of  El  Mamun's 
name  for  that  of  the  original  founder,  'Abd  el  Melik,  in 
the    mosaic    inscription    upon    the    colonnade    of    the 


io2  JERUSALEM. 


Cubbet  es  Sakhrah  ;  inscriptions  implying  the  same 
wilful  misstatement  of  facts  are  found  upon  large 
copper  plates  fastened  over  the  doors  of  the  last-named 
building.  Upon  these  we  read,  after  the  usual  pious 
invocations  and  texts,  the  following  words :  '  Con- 
structed by  order  of  the  servant  of  God,  'Abdallah  el 
Mamun,  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  whose  life  may 
God  prolong  !  during  the  government  of  the  brother  of 
the  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  Er  Rashid,  whom  God 
preserve  !  Executed  by  Saleh  ibn  Yahyah,  one  of  the 
slaves  of  the  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  in  the  month 
Rabi'  el  Akhir,  in  the  year  216.'  (May,  a.d.  831.)  It 
is  inconceivable  that  so  liberal  and  intellectual  a  prince 
should  have  sanctioned  such  an  arrogant  and  trans- 
parent fiction  ;  and  we  can  only  attribute  the  misstate- 
ment to  the  servile  adulation  of  the  officials  entrusted 
with  the  carrying-out  of  the  restorations. 

The  Christian  patriarch  Thomas  now  sought  for  an 
opportunity  to  restore  the  ruined  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  the  occasion  was  not  long  wanting. 
One  of  those  great  plagues  of  locusts,  which  from  time 
to  time  devastate  Jerusalem,  had  just  visited  the  city  ; 
the  crops  entirely  failed  in  consequence  of  their  depreda- 
tions, and  as  a  famine  appeared  imminent,  every 
Mohammedan  who  could  afford  to  do  so  quitted  the 
city,  with  his  family  and  household  effects,  until  a  more 
convenient  season.  Thus  secured  from  interruption, 
the  patriarch  proceeded  to  put  his  plan  into  execution, 
and,  aided  by  the  contributions  of  a  wealthy  Egyptian 
named  Bocam,  set  about  rebuilding  the  church.  The 
Muslims,  on  their  return,  were  astonished  and  annoyed 
to  find  that  the  Christian  temple  had  risen  again  from 
its  ruins  with  such  magnificent  proportions  that  the 
newly-restored  glories  of  their  own  Masjid  were  quite 


INSURGENTS  TAKE  THE  CITY. 


thrown  into  the  shade.  The  patriarch  Thomas  and 
other  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  were  accused  of  a  con- 
travention of  the  treaty  under  which  they  enjoyed  their 
immunities  and  privileges,  and  were  thrown  into  prison 
pending  the  inquiry.  The  principal  charge  against 
them,  and  one  which  embodied  the  whole  cause  of 
complaint,  was  that  the  dome  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  overtopped  that  of  j  the  Cubbet  es 
Sakhrah.  By  a  miserable  subterfuge,  to  which  we 
have  already  referred,  the  patriarch  threw  the  onus  of 
proof  upon  his  accusers,  and  declared  that  his  dome 
had  been  restored  exactly  upon  the  original  plan,  and 
that  the  dimensions  of  the  former  one  had  been  rigidly 
observed.  This  deliberate  falsehood  the  Mohammedans 
were  unable  to  disprove,  notwithstanding  the  direct 
evidence  of  their  senses  to  the  contrary,  and  the 
prisoners  were  perforce  set  at  liberty,  and  the  charge 
abandoned.  Equity,  either  in  its  technical  or  ordinary 
sense,  is  not  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Muslim 
law-courts,  but  in  this  case  no  one  suffered  by  the 
omission  but  themselves. 

Mamun's  brother,  El  Mo'tasim  Billah,  succeeded  him 
upon  the  throne.  In  the  year  842  a  fanatical  chieftain, 
named  Temim  Abu  Hareb,  headed  a  large  army  of  des- 
peradoes, and,  after  some  temporary  successes  in  Syria, 
made  himself  master  of  Jerusalem.  The  churches  and 
other  Christian  edifices  were  only  saved  from  destruc- 
tion on  the  payment  of  a  large  ransom  by  the  patriarch; 
on  receiving  this,  the  insurgents  vacated  the  city,  and 
were  shortly  afterwards  entirely  defeated  by  the  caliph's 
forces. 

A  wonderful  story  is  told  of  the  great  earthquake 
which  took  place  in  the  year  846  a.d. — namely,  that  in 
the  night  the  guards  of  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah  were 


io4  JERUSALEM. 


suddenly  astonished  to  find  the  dome  itself  displaced, 
so  that  they  could  see  the  stars  and  feel  the  rain 
splashing  upon  their  faces.  Then  they  heard  a  low 
voice  saying  gently,  '  Put  it  straight  again,'  and 
gradually  it  settled  down  into  its  ordinary  state. 

The  power  of  the  caliphs  was  now  upon  the  wane : 
the  disorders  consequent  upon  the  introduction  of 
Turkish  guards  at  Baghdad  by  El  Mo'tassem  first 
weakened  their  authority ;  but  the  revolt  of  the  Car- 
mathians  in  877,  during  the  reign  of  El  Mo'tammed 
Billah,  struck  the  first  fatal  blow  against  the  House  of 
Abbas.  The  sect  of  the  Carmathians  was  founded  by 
a  certain  Hamdan,  surnamed  Carmat.  His  doctrines 
consisted  in  allegorizing  the  text  of  the  Cor'an  and 
the  precepts  of  Islamism,  and  in  substituting  for  their 
exterior  observance  other  and  fanciful  duties.  Carmat 
was  an  inhabitant  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Basora, 
and  his  sect  took  its  origin  in  that  place,  and  soon 
spread  over  the  whole  of  Irak  and  Syria.  Under  a 
chief  named  Abu  Taher  these  fanatics  defeated  the 
Caliph  el  Moktader  Billah,  and  held  possession  of  the 
whole  of  the  Syrian  desert.  With  a  force  of  more 
than  a  hundred  and  seven  thousand  men,  Abu  Taher 
took  Rakka,  Baalbekk,  Basra,  and  Cufa,  and  even 
threatened  the  imperial  city  of  Baghdad  itself.  The 
caliph  made  strenuous  exertions  to  suppress  the 
rebellion,  but  his  soldiers  were  defeated,  and  his 
general  taken  captive  and  treated  with  the  utmost 
indignities.  A  strange  story  is  told  of  this  struggle, 
which  illustrates  the  fierce  fanaticism  and  blind  de- 
votion of  Abu  Taher's  followers.  A  subordinate  officer 
from  the  Mussulman  army  penetrated  to  the  rebel 
camp,  and  warned  the  chief  to  betake  himself  to 
instant  flight.     *  Tell  your  master,'  was  the  reply,  '  that 


i 


WANING  POWER  OF  THE  CALIPH.  105 

in  all  his  thirty  thousand  troops  he  cannot  boast  three 
men  like  these.'  As  he  spoke  he  bade  three  of  his 
followers  to  put  themselves  to  death  ;  and,  without  a 
murmur,  one  stabbed  himself  to  the  heart,  another 
drowned  himself  in  the  waters  of  the  Tigris,  and  a 
third  flung  himself  from  a  precipice  and  was  dashed 
to  pieces.  Against  such  savages  as  these  the  luxurious 
squadrons  of  Baghdad  could  do  nothing — they  were 
ignominiously  defeated ;  and  the  Carmathians  roamed 
whithersoever  they  pleased,  and  devastated  the  country 
with  fire  and  sword.  In  929  Mecca  itself  was  pillaged, 
thirty  thousand  pilgrims  slain,  and  the  black  stone,  the 
special  object  of  adoration  to  the  true  believer,  was 
carried  off.  This  circumstance  caused  another  diver- 
sion in  favour  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  Ka'abah  was  again 
deserted,  and  crowds  of  devotees  flocked  from  all  parts 
of  the  Mohammedan  world  to  prostrate  themselves 
before  the  Holy  Rock  of  David.  For  the  Christian 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  the  change  was  an  unfortu- 
nate one :  Mussulman  bigotry  was  again  in  the  as- 
cendant in  the  Holy  City,  and  we  learn  that  in  937  the 
church  of  Constantine  was  destroyed,  and  the  churches 
of  Calvary  and  the  Resurrection  once  more  ruined  and 
despoiled. 

A  few  years  later  the  *  black  stone  '  was  restored, 
and  the  Ka'abah  and  Mecca  were  once  more  opened 
for  the  Mohammedan  pilgrims.  The  Carmathians 
themselves  were  suppressed  and  their  legions  dis- 
persed ;  but  the  seeds  of  religious  and  political  heresy 
were  sown  broadcast  throughout  Islam,  and  were 
destined  speedily  to  bring  forth  most  disastrous  fruit. 

Since  the  conquests  of  'Omar  and  his  generals,  no 
successful  attempt  had  been  made  to  recover  the 
eastern  provinces  for  the  Grecian  Empire  ;  but  in  the 


106  JERUSALEM. 

reign  of  the  Caliph  El  Moti'  al  Illah  a  movement  was 
made  which  threatened  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  the 
hands  of  the  Muslim  princes  and  restore  the  pristine 
glory  of  the  Byzantine  arms.  Nicephorus  Phocas 
and  his  murderer,  John  Zimisces,  having  successively 
married  Theophania,  the  widow  of  Romanus,  Emperor 
of  Constantinople,  though  nominally  regents,  really 
held  the  supreme  command,  and  during  a  period  of 
twelve  years  (a.d.  963-975)  gained  a  series  of  brilliant 
victories  over  the  Saracens.  The  whole  of  Syria  was 
conquered,  and  Baghdad  itself  would  have  fallen,  but 
for  the  prompt  measures  and  stern  resolution  of  the 
Bowide  lieutenant,  who  compelled  his  imperial  master 
to  provide  for  the  defence  of  the  capital.  Satisfied, 
however,  with  the  rich  plunder  they  had  already 
obtained,  the  Greeks  retired  without  attacking  the 
town,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  Constantinople, 
leaving  Syria  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  Muslim's  anger 
and  revenge. 

A  bloody  persecution  of  the  Christians  was  the 
result,  and  the  churches  of  the  East  were  once  more 
exposed  to  the  assaults  of  iconoclastic  fanaticism. 
Jerusalem  suffered  severely  in  the  reaction  ;  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  destroyed ;  and 
the  patriarch,  suspected  of  treasonous  intercourse  with 
the  Greeks,  was  taken  prisoner  and  burnt  alive. 

The  establishment  of  independent  dynasties  in 
various  parts  of  the  empire,  by  the  revolts  of  the 
provincial  governors,  had  been  for  some  time  a  source 
of  danger  to  the  Abbasside  power,  and  ultimately 
accomplished  the  downfall  of  the  dynasty. 

The  Aglabites  in  Africa,  the  Taherites  in  Khorassan, 
the  house  of  Bowiyeh  in  Persia,  had,  one  by  one,  fallen 
off  from   their   allegiance,    and   the   authority  of  the 


THE  FA  TEMITE  CALIPHS.  i  o  7 

caliphs  extended  scarcely  beyond  the  walls  of  Baghdad ; 
and  even  in  the  capital  itself  they  lingered  on  with 
fluctuating  fortune,  alternately  the  tools  or  victims  of 
rival  factions. 

The  alienation  of  Egypt — involving,  as  it  nearly 
always  did,  that  of  Syria  as  well — more  immediately 
affected  the  fortunes  of  Jerusalem,  and  therefore  merits 
a  rather  more  circumstantial  account. 

In  the  year  868  Ahmed  ibn  Tulun,  the  son  of  a 
Turkish  slave,  who  had  been  appointed  viceroy  of 
Egypt  by  the  Caliph  el  M'otazz  Billah,  rebelled  against 
his  master's  authority,  and  assumed  the  style  and  title 
of  Sultan,  or  independent  sovereign.  The  kingdom 
remained  in  his  family  about  thirty  years,  when  it  was 
retaken  by  Mohammed  ibn  Suleiman,  general  of  the 
Caliph  el  Moktadhi  Billah,  and  the  authority  of  the 
Abbassides  was  again  established  in  Egypt.  This 
state  of  things,  however,  continued  but  for  a  short 
time,  and  in  936  the  government  of  Egypt  was  again 
usurped  by  a  Turk  named  Ikhshid,  who,  after  some 
opposition  from  the  troops  of  the  Er  Radhi  Billah  (the 
last  of  the  caliphs  who  enjoyed  the  authority  or  de- 
served the  name),  obtained  undisputed  possession  of 
Syria.  He  was  nominally  succeeded  by  his  sons,  but 
the  government  remained  in  the  hands  of  his  black 
slave,  Kafur,  who  ultimately  contrived  to  seat  himself 
upon  the  throne.  At  his  death  the  kingdom  passed  to- 
'Ali  el  Ikshid,  a  nephew  of  the  founder  of  the  family; 
but,  after  a  short  reign  of  one  year,  he  was  deposed 
(a.d.  970)  by  Jauher,  the  general  of  El  Mo'ezz  li  din 
Allah,  fourth  of  the  Fatemite  caliphs. 

This  dynasty  (the  Fatemite,  or  Ismaili)  was  the  most 
formidable  of  all  who  had  resisted  the  authority  of  the 
caliphs  of  Baghdad  ;  for  it  was  not  as  the  insurgent 


io8  JERUSALEM. 


possessors  of  a  province  that  they  asserted  their  in- 
dependence, but,  as  legitimate  heirs,  they  disputed 
their  master's  title  to  the  caliphate  itself. 

The  family  traced  its  origin  to  Mohammed  through 
Fatimah,  wife  of  'Ali  ibn  Abi  Taleb,  and  daughter  of 
the  prophet ;  and  on  the  strength  of  this  illustrious 
pedigree  they  claimed  to  be  the  true  successors  of  the 
prophet  and  rightful  heirs  to  the  supreme  authority. 
Their  pretensions  were  combated  with  great  obstinacy 
by  the  Abbasside  princes,  but  there  seems  good  reason 
for  believing  that  their  claims  were  well-grounded. 
The  founder  of  the  house  was  one  'Obeid  Allah,  who, 
at  the  head  of  a  number  of  political  and  religious 
fanatics,  had  succeeded  in  establishing  himself  in  Irak 
and  Yemen.  After  a  series  of  romantic  adventures,  he 
made  himself  master  of  Africa  (a.d.  910),  where  he 
assumed  the  title  and  authority  of  caliph,  and  gave 
himself  out  to  be  the  Mehdi,  or  last  of  the  Imams, 
foretold  by  Mohammed.  At  his  death,  which  happened 
in  a.d.  934,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Al  Cairn  bi 
Amr  Illah,  who  reigned  until  a.d.  946.  His  son,  El 
Mansur  Ismael,  then  came  to  the  throne,  and  dying  in 
952,  the  caliphate  passed  into  the  hands  of  El  Mo'ezz 
li  din  Allah  Abu  Temim  Ma'ad.  It  was  this  prince  who 
conquered  Egypt  and  founded  the  city  of  Cairo,  which 
then  became  the  seat  of  empire.  He  died  in  969,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  El  'Aziz  billah  Abu  Mansur 
Nizar.  His  death  happened  in  October,  a.d.  996 ; 
and  the  caliphate  then  passed  to  El  Hakem  bi  Amr 
Illah,  about  whom  it  will  be  necessary  to  speak  more 
in  detail. 

Hakem  was  born  at  Cairo  on  the  23rd  of  August, 
985  a.d.,  and  was  consequently  only  eleven  years  and 
five    months  old  when  he  ascended  the  throne.     His 


EL  HAKEM  BI  AMR  ILLAH.  109 

father   had    assigned    the  guardianship  of   the   young 
prince,  during  his  minority,  to  a  white  eunuch  named 
Barjewan  ;  but  the  real  power  was  vested  in  a  certain 
Ibn  'Ammar,  who  had  previously  exercised  the  functions 
of  Cadhi  ul   Codhat,  or  chief  magistrate,  and  whom 
Hakem    had    been  obliged    to    appoint    as    his    prime 
minister.     Ahout  the  year  996,  Hakem,  or  rather  Ibn 
Ammar,  had  sent  Suleiman  ibn  Ja'afer  (better  known 
as  Abu  Temim  Ketami)  to  be  governor-general  of  Syria. 
Manjutakin,  the  governor  who  had  been  thus   super- 
seded, marched  against  Suleiman;  but  lie  was  defeated 
near    Ascalon,    and    sent    a   prisoner  to   Cairo.      Abu 
Temim  was  now  invested  with  the  governor-generalship 
of  Syria,  and  proceeded  to  Tiberias,  where  he  fixed  his 
residence,  and  appointed  his  brother  'All  to  replace  him 
at  Damascus.     At  first  the  inhabitants  of  that  city  re- 
fused to  recognise  his  authority;  but  Abu  Temim  having 
written  them  a  threatening  letter,  they  proffered  their 
submission,  and  asked  pardon  for  having  resisted.    'Ali 
refused  to  listen  to  their  excuses,  attacked  the  city,  and 
put  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  to  death  ;  but,  on  the 
arrival  of  Abu  Temim  himself,  order  was  at  last   re- 
stored.  The  governor-general  then  proceeded  to  occupy 
himself  with   the   reduction   of  the  maritime  ports  of 
Syria,  and  dismissing  Jaish  ibn  Samsamah   from  the 
government  of  Tripoli,  gave  the  post  to  his  own  brother 
'Ali.     Jaish  at  once  returned  to  Egypt,  where  he  made 
common  cause  with   Barjewan  against   Ibn  'Ammar. 
The  latter  was  not  idle,  and  in  the  meantime  had  laid 
a  deep  plot  against  the  life  of   his  rival  and   his  as- 
sociates.    Barjewan,  however,  obtained  information  of 
the  plot ;    open  hostilities  were  commenced,  and  Ibn 
'Ammar  was  defeated,  and  compelled  to  seek  safety  in 
concealment.     Barjewan  now  succeeded  to  the  duties 


JERUSALEM. 


and  responsibilities  of  his  office,  and  appointed  as  his 
secretary  one  Fahd  ibn  Ibrahim,  a  Christian,  to  whom 
he  gave  the  title  of  Reis.     At  the  same  time  he  wrote 
privately  to   the  principal  officers   and  inhabitants  of 
Damascus,    inciting    them    to    rise    and    attack    Abu 
Temim.     Abu  Temim  thus  found  himself  assailed  at  a 
moment  when  he  least  expected  it ;  his  treasures  were 
pillaged,  all  his  immediate  followers  were  killed,  and 
he  himself  was  but  too  glad  to  escape  by  flight.    While 
Damascus  was  thus  suddenly  exposed  to  all  the  horrors 
of  civil  war,  the  other  provinces  of  Syria  were  agitated 
by  diverse  insurrections.     In  the  same  year  (a.d.  997) 
the  Tyrians  had  revolted,  and  placed  at  their  head  a 
fellah  named  Olaka  ;  while  Mofarrij  ibn   Daghfal  ibn 
Jerrah  had  also  headed  a  party  of  insurgents,  and  was 
making  raids  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ramleh.     The 
Greeks,  under  a  general  named  Ducas,  were  also,  at 
the  same  time,  laying  siege  to  the  castle  of  Apameus. 
Meanwhile,  Barjewan  had  committed  the  government 
of  Syria  to  Jaish  ibn  Samsamah,  who  at  once  repaired 
to   Ramleh,  where  he  found  his   deposed  predecessor 
Abu  Temim,  and  sent  him  a  prisoner  to  Egypt.     After 
this     he    despatched     Husein — a     great-grandson     of 
Hamdan,    the    founder   of    the    Carmathian    sect — to 
quell  the  insurrection  at  Tyre.     Olaka,  being  besieged 
both  by  land  and  sea,  sought  the  aid  of  the   Greek 
emperor,  who  sent  several  vessels  filled  with  troops  to 
the  relief  of   the  city.      The  Mussulman  vessels  en- 
countered this  squadron  before  their  arrival  at  Tyre  ; 
the  Greeks  were  defeated,  and  put  to  flight  with  con- 
siderable loss.     Tyre,  thus  deprived  of  its  last  hope  of 
resistance,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Husein,  who  sacked 
the  city,  and  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword.     Olaka 
himself  fled  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  arrested  and  cruci- 


EL  HA  REM  BI  AMR  ILL  AH. 


fied.  The  new  governor-general  (Jaish)  marched 
against  Mofarrij  ibn  Jerrah,  put  the  latter  to  flight,  and 
shortly  afterwards  entered  Damascus,  where  he  was 
received  with  every  mark  of  submission  and  obedience. 
The  complete  rout  of  the  Grecian  army  followed 
shortly  afterwards,  and  Jaish  having,  by  a  coup  d'etat, 
massacred  all  the  powerful  chiefs  at  Damascus  whom 
he  suspected  of  disaffection  to  his  rule,  established 
himself  firmly  in  the  government  of  Syria. 

Barjewan  now  wielded  the  sovereign  authority, 
Hakem  remaining  more  of  a  puppet  in  his  hands  than 
ever  he  had  been  in  those  of  Ibn  'Ammar.  But  the 
eunuch's  triumph  was  shortlived.  Barjewan  had  fre- 
quently applied  to  Hakem,  during  the  infancy  of  the 
latter,  the  contemptuous  name  of  '  The  Lizard,'  and 
this  indignity  rankled  in  the  young  caliph's  breast. 
One  morning  (on  the  15th  of  April,  999  a.d.)  he  sent  a 
message  to  his  guardian,  couched  in  the  following 
words :  '  The  little  lizard  has  become  a  huge  dragon, 
and  calls  for  thee  !'  Barjewan  hastened,  all  trembling, 
into  the  presence  of  Hakem,  who  then  and  there 
ordered  him  to  be  beheaded. 

About  the  year  1000  Hakem  began  to  exhibit  those 
eccentricities  of  character  which  ultimately  betrayed 
him  into  such  preposterous  fancies  and  pretensions. 
He  began  to  promenade  the  city  on  horseback  every 
night,  and  on  these  occasions  the  inhabitants  of  Cairo 
vied  with  each  other  in  illuminations,  banquets,  and 
other  festive  displays.  As  no  limit  was  observed  in 
these  amusements,  and  a  great  deal  of  licentiousness 
was  the  natural  result,  the  caliph  forbade  any  woman 
to  leave  her  house  after  nightfall,  and  prohibited  the 
men  from  keeping  their  shops  open  after  dusk.  During 
the  next  two  years,  Hakem  displayed  an  unbounded 


12  JERUSALEM. 


zeal  for  the  Shiah  sect,  inflicting  indignities  upon  \  the 
enemies  of  'Ali,'  and  even  putting  many  distinguished 
Sunnis  to  death.  At  the  same  time  he  commenced  a 
rigorous  persecution  of  the  Jews  and  Christians  :  the 
more  eminent  persons  of  both  religions  were  compelled 
either  to  embrace  the  Mohammedan  creed,  or  to  submit 
to  an  entire  confiscation  of  their  property — and,  in 
many  cases,  to  undergo  a  violent  death ;  while  the 
common  people  were  robbed  and  illtreated  on  all  sides, 
and  obliged  to  wear  a  ridiculous  uniform  to  distinguish 
them  from  their  Muslim  neighbours. 

Between  the  years  1004  and  1005,  he  became  more 
extravagant  and  ridiculous  in  his  behaviour  than  before. 
He  prohibited  the  sale  of  certain  vegetables,  ordered 
that  no  one  should  enter  the  public  baths  without 
drawers  upon  pain  of  death,  and  caused  anathemas  to 
be  written  up,  over  the  door  of  all  the  mosques,  against 
the  first  three  caliphs,  and  all  those  persons  whom 
history  mentions  as  having  been  inimical  to  the  family 
and  succession  of  'Ali.  About  this  time  he  began  to 
hold  public  assemblies,  in  which  the  peculiar  doctrines 
of  the  Fatemite  or  Bateni  sect  were  taught,  and  Mus- 
lims of  all  classes  and  both  sexes  presented  themselves 
in  crowds  for  initiation. 

The  most  ridiculous  laws  and  ordinances  were  now 
promulgated  :  all  persons  were  forbidden  to  show  them- 
selves in  the  streets  after  sunset ;  strict  search  was 
made  for  vessels  containing  wine,  and  wherever  found 
they  were  broken  to  pieces,  and  their  contents  poured 
into  the  road  ;  all  the  dogs  in  Cairo  were  slaughtered, 
because  a  cur  had  barked  at  the  caliph's  horse. 

In  the  year  1007 — probably  inspired  by  a  revolt 
which  had,  at  one  time,  threatened  the  total  extinction 
of  his  power — he  began  to  display  some  slight  signs  of 


EL  HAKEM  BI  AMR  ILLAH.  113 

moderation,  and,  amongst  other  things,  caused  the 
anathemas  against  the  enemies  of  'Ali  to  be  defaced 
from  the  mosques,  and  otherwise  sought  to  conciliate 
his  Sunni  subjects.  The  Christians,  however,  in  no 
way  profited  by  the  change,  and  a  more  rigorous  perse- 
cution than  ever  was  instituted  against  them.  Three 
years  later,  Hakem  gave  the  order  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem. 
The  excuse  alleged  by  the  Mohammedan  authorities 
for  this  outrage  was  the  caliph's  pious  horror  at  the  dis- 
graceful orgies  and  juggling  imposture  attending  the 
so-called  descent  of  the  Holy  Fire  at  the  Easter  cele- 
bration :  '  on  which  occasion,'  as  the  Arab  historian 
naively  remarks,  '  the  most  frightful  and  blasphemous 
enormities  are  committed  before  the  very  eyes  of  the 
faithful.  The  Christians  positively  make  a  parade  of 
their  misbelief,  reading  and  reciting  their  books  aloud, 
in  a  manner  too  horrible  to  speak  of,  while  they  raise 
their  crucifixes  over  their  heads  till  one's  hair  absolutely 
stands  on  end  !' 

The  real  cause,  however,  appears  to  have  been  the 
machinations  of  a  certain  monk  named  John.  This 
man  had  in  vain  endeavoured  to  induce  his  patriarch 
(Zacharias)  to  consecrate  him  to  the  office  of  bishop, 
but  his  superior  had  persistently  refused  to  accede 
to  his  repeated  request.  Impelled  by  ambition  and 
revenge,  John  came  to  Egypt,  presented  himself 
before  Hakem  at  Jebel  Mokattem  (where  the  caliph 
was  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  practise  his  supersti- 
tious and  profane  ceremonies),  and  addressed  to  him  a 
petition  filled  with  the  grossest  calumnies  against  the 
patriarch.  '  Thou  art  the  king  of  the  country,'  so  the 
document  ran,  '  but  the  Christians  have  a  king  more 
powerful  than  thee,  owing  to  the  immense  riches  which 


114  JERUSALEM. 

he  has  amassed — one  who  sells  bishoprics  for  gold,  and 
conducts  himself  in  a  manner  highly  displeasing  to 
God.'  Hakem,  on  reading  these  words,  at  once  com- 
manded that  all  the  churches  throughout  the  kingdom 
should  be  closed,  and  the  patriarch  himself  arrested, 
and  wrote  to  the  governor  of  Jerusalem  in  the  following 
terms  :  '  The  Imam,  the  Commander  of  the  Faithful, 
orders  you  so  to  destroy  the  Church  of  El  Camamah,* 
that  its  earth  shall  become  its  heaven,  and  its  length  its 
breadth.'  The  order  was  immediately  put  into  execu- 
tion ;  the  church  was  razed  to  the  ground,  and  an 
attempt  made — though  fortunately  without  success — to 
destroy  the  rock-hewn  tomb  itself,  which  had  been  for 
so  many  years  the  special  object  of  devotion  to  myriads 
of  Christian  pilgrims. 

In  1012  Hakem  renewed  the  greater  part  of  his 
absurd  police  regulations.  He  forbade  women  to  take 
any  part  in  funeral  ceremonies,  or  to  visit  the  tombs  of 
their  deceased  relatives ;  the  edicts  against  wine  and 
forbidden  fruits  were  more  rigidly  enforced ;  all  the 
vines  were  destroyed,  and  their  cultivation  for  the 
future  prohibited  ;  immense  quantities  of  raisins  were 
burnt,  and  the  merchants  forbidden  to  expose  the  fruit 
for  sale  ;  the  same  course  was  taken  with  regard  to 
honey  and  dates,  and  no  compensation  whatever  was 
allowed  to  the  owners. 

In  1014  he  ordered  all  the  women  of  Cairo  to  confine 
themselves  rigorously  to  their  houses,  and  forebade 
them  even  to  appear  at  the  doors  or  windows,  and 
shoemakers  were  forbidden  to  make  shoes  for  them. 
This  state  of  constraint  they  were  compelled  to  endure 
until  his  death — that  is,  for  more  than  seven  years  and 
a  half. 

*  See  p.  71. 


EL  HAKEM  BI  AMR  ILLAH. 


It  is  related  that,  passing  one  day  by  certain  baths, 
he  heard  a  noise  inside,  and  on  being  informed  that 
some  women  were  there,  in  contravention  of  his  law, 
he  ordered  the  doors  and  other  approaches  to  be 
walled  up,  and  the  entire  number  perished  of  starva- 
tion. 

But  it  would  be  tedious  to  detail  the  numerous  acts 
of  fanaticism  and  folly  of  which  he  was  guilty.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  he  committed  every  extravagance  which 
could  shock  the  prejudices  or  offend  the  scruples  of 
his  subjects. 

At  last  his  folly  reached  its  height,  and  he  gave  him- 
self out  to  be  the  Deity  incarnate,  and  called  upon  all 
men  to  render  him  divine  honours.  In  these  prepos- 
terous pretensions  he  was  supported  (perhaps  instigated 
in  the  first  place)  by  certain  Persian  Da'is,  or  emissaries 
of  the  Bateni  sect,  of  whom  the  principal  were  Moham- 
med ibn  Ismail  ed  Darazi  and  Hamza  ibn  Ali  ibn 
Ahmed  el  Hadi.  These  persons  endeavoured  to  spread 
their  doctrines  in  Cairo  itself;  but  although  a  certain 
number  of  persons,  impelled  either  by  fear  or  love  of 
gain,  did  acknowledge  the  divinity  of  the  caliph  and 
abjure  the  Mussulman  religion — yet  the  greater  part  of 
the  populace  shrank  from  the  profession  of  such  im- 
piety, and  Hamza  and  Ed  Darazi  were  compelled  to 
seek  safety  in  flight.  They  chose  Syria  for  the  next 
scene  of  their  operations,  and  found  ready  believers  in 
the  mountaineers  of  Lebanon  and  Hermon — men  who 
still  clung  in  secret  to  the  idolatrous  sun-worship  of 
their  forefathers. 

Thus  was  the  sect  of  the  Druzes  established  in  Syria  : 
they  take  their  name  from  Ed  Darazi,  but  they  regard 
Hamza  as  the  true  founder  of  their  religion.  And 
for  eight  hundred  years  a  hardv  and  intelligent  race 

8—2 


n6  JERUSALEM. 

have  acknowledged  for  their  god  one  of  the  maddest 
monsters  that  the  world  has  ever  produced  ! 

As  for  Hakem  himself,  his  extravagant  conduct  could 
not  long  go  unpunished.  In  the  year  1021  he  was 
assassinated,  by  the  orders  of  his  own  sister,  while  en- 
gaged in  one  of  his  nocturnal  ceremonies  in  Jebel 
Mokattem,  where  he  was  in  the  habit  of  retiring  '  to 
worship  the  planet  Saturn,  and  hold  converse  with  the 
devil.' 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  give  some  account 
of  the  tenets  of  the  Druzes.*  This  remarkable  sect 
profess  to  recognise  but  one  God,  without  seeking  to 
penetrate  into  the  nature  of  His  being  and  attributes  ; 
to  confess  that  He  can  neither  be  comprehended  by  the 
senses,  nor  defined  by  language ;  to  believe  that  the 
Deity  has  manifested  itself  to  mankind  at  different 
epochs  under  a  human  form,  without  participating  in 
any  of  the  weaknesses  and  imperfections  of  human 
nature  ;  that  the  last  of  these  avatars  descended  upon 
earth  in  the  person  of  El  Hakem  bi  Amr  Illah,  in  whom 
they  ceased  for  all  time  ;  that  Hakem  disappeared  in 
the  year  411  of  the  Hijrah  (a.d.  1021),  in  order  to  put 
the  faith  of  his  worshippers  to  the  test ;  and  that  he 
will  one  day  appear  again,  clothed  in  majesty  and  glory, 
to  extend  his  empire  over  the  whole  face  of  the  globe, 
and  to  consummate  the  happiness  of  those  who  faith- 
fully believe  in  him.  They  believe,  moreover,  that  the 
Universal  Intelligence  is  the  first  of  God's  creatures, 
and  the  immediate  production  of  His  omnipotence,  and 
that  this  intelligence  was  incarnate  in  the  person  of 
Hamza  ibn  Ahmed  during  Hakem's  reign  ;  that  it  is  by 

*  The  following  account  of  the  Druzes,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
life  of  Hakem,  is  abridged  from  the  '  Expose*  de  la  Religion  des 
Druzes,'  by  the  celebrated  Orientalist,  Sylvestre  de  Sacy. 


THE  DRUZES.  117 


his  ministry  that  all  other  creatures  have  been  produced ; 
that  Hamza  alone  possesses  the  knowledge  of  truth 
and  of  true  religion,  and  that  he  communicates,  directly 
or  indirectly,  but  in  different  proportions,  to  the  other 
ministers,  and  to  the  faithful  themselves,  that  knowledge 
and  grace  which  he  receives  from  the  Deity,  and  of 
which  he  is  the  sole  channel ;  that  he  alone  has  imme- 
diate access  to  the  presence  of  God,  and  serves  as  the 
mediator  to  all  other  worshippers  of  the  Supreme 
Being ;  and  that  he  will  be,  at  the  second  advent,  the 
instrument  by  which  all  rewards  and  punishments  are 
to  be  distributed,  and  the  kingdom  of  Hakem  to  be 
established  upon  earth.  They  hold  that  all  souls  are 
created  by  this  Universal  Intelligence;  that  the  number 
of  human  beings  is  always  the  same,  and  that  souls 
pass  successively  into  different  bodies ;  that  their  con- 
dition during  this  transmigration  is  progressive  or  the 
reverse,  according  to  their  adherence  in  the  previous 
state  to  the  dogmas  and  precepts  of  their  religion,  and 
their  strict  performance  of  the  duties  enjoined  by  the 
seven  commandments  of  Hamza.  These  are — Ver- 
acity ;  charity  ;  the  renunciation  of  their  ancient  faith  ; 
submission  to  the  will  of  God  ;  to  believe  that  all  pre- 
ceding religions  are  but  types  of  the  true  faith  ;  that  all 
their  precepts  and  ceremonies  are  allegories ;  and  that 
their  own  religion  abrogates  all  other  creeds  which  have 
gone  before.  Such  are  the  doctrines  taught  in  the 
religious  works  of  the  Druzes  themselves ;  the  followers 
of  the  sect  are  known  amongst  themselves  by  the 
name  of  Unitarians.  The  Druzes  are  accused  of  wor- 
shipping a  small  idol  in  the  form  of  a  calf,  and  it  is  a 
well-ascertained  fact  that  they  do  make  use  of  some 
figure  in  their  religious  ceremonies.  It  is,  however,  the 
symbol  of  Iblis,  the  rival  or  enemy  of  Hakem,  the  calf 


n8  JERUSALEM. 


('ejl)  being  opposed  to  the  Universal  Intelligence  ('akl) 
just  mentioned. 

Before  his  death,  Hakem  appears  to  have  somewhat 
relaxed  in  his  persecutions  of  the  Jews  and  Christians ; 
the  latter  were  allowed  to  rebuild  their  churches,  and 
many  who  had  become  apostates  openly  renounced  Mo- 
hammedanism, and  were  baptized  into  the  Christian 
community. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  thus  destroyed 
must  have  been  (see  p.  142)  very  speedily  repaired,  for 
we  find,  during  the  reign  of  El  Mostanser  Billah, 
Hakem's  grandson,  that  the  fabric  was  completely 
restored,  the  permission  of  the  caliph  having  been  ob- 
tained by  the  release  of  five  thousand  Muslim  prisoners 
on  the  part  of  the  Greek  emperor. 

In  the  year  1016  a  fresh  earthquake  occurred,  and 
the  great  cupola  over  the  Sakhrah  fell  down,  though 
without  much  injury  happening  to  the  foundations  of  the 
building.  The  walls  at  the  south-west  angle  of  the 
Haram  es  Sherif  also  suffered  by  the  shock,  and  a  Cufic 
inscription  tells  us  that  the  damage  done  in  that  quarter 
was  repaired  by  Ed  Dhaher  li  'Ezaz  din  Allah.  The 
same  prince  also  restored  the  cupola  itself,  as  we  learn 
from  another  inscription  engraved  upon  the  wooden 
framework  of  the  cupola,  and  repeated  at  each  of  the 
four  points  of  the  compass.  It  runs  as  follows  :  ( In 
the  name  of  God  the  Merciful,  the  Compassionate  ! 
"  None  repair  the  mosques  of  God  but  such  as  believe 
in  Him  "  (Cor.  c.  v.).  The  Imam  Abu  el  Hasan  ed 
Dhaher  li  'Ezaz  din  Allah,  son  of  El  Hakem  bi  Amr 
Illah,  Prince  of  the  Faithful  (the  blessing  of  God  be 
upon  his  noble  ancestry  !),  ordered  the  restoration  of 
this  blessed  cupola.  The  work  was  executed  by  the 
servant  of  God,  the  Emir,  the  confidant  of  the  Imams, 


EARTHQUAKES.  119 

the  prop  of  the  empire,  'Ali  ibn  Ahmed  Inahet  Allah,  in 
the  year  413  (a.d.  1022).  May  God  perpetuate  the  glory 
and  stability  of  our  lord  the  Commander  of  the  Faith- 
ful, and  make  him  to  possess  the  east  and  west  of  the 
earth  !  We  praise  God  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  all 
our  works.' 

In  1034  fresh  earthquakes  devastated  Syria  and 
Egypt ;  some  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  destroyed, 
and  a  large  portion  of  the  Mihrab  Da'ud  (that  is,  the 
building  now  called  the  Cala'at  Jalut)  fell  to  the  ground. 

Again,  in  the  year  1060,  an  accident  happened  in  the 
Cubbet  es  Sakhrah  :  the  great  candelabra  suspended 
from  the  dome,  and  containing  five  hundred  candles, 
suddenly  gave  way,  and  fell  with  an  awful  crash  upon 
the  Sakhrah,  greatly  to  the  consternation  of  the 
worshippers  assembled  in  the  mosque,  who  looked 
upon  it  as  foreboding  some  great  calamity  to  Islam. 
Their  fears  were  not  unfounded,  for  the  conquest  of  the 
Holy  City  by  the  Crusaders  followed  not  many  years 
after  this  incident.  This  period  seems  to  have  been 
especially  fertile  in  volcanic  disturbances,  for  again,  in 
the  year  1068,  a  fearful  earthquake  convulsed  all  Pales- 
tine. On  this  occasion,  the  Sakhrah  is  said  to  have 
been  rent  asunder  by  the  shock,  and  the  cleft  miracu- 
lously reclosed. 

Another  event  of  evil  omen,  but  of  doubtful  authen- 
ticity, is  related  by  the  Arab  historians  as  having 
happened  about  the  same  period.  The  sea,  they 
declare,  suddenly  receded  for  the  distance  of  a  day's 
journey ;  but  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood 
taking  possession  of  the  reclaimed  land,  it  suddenly 
returned  and  overwhelmed  them,  so  that  an  immense 
destruction  of  life  ensued. 

The  conflict  between   the  Abbasside  and  Fatemite 


i2o  JERUSALEM. 


caliphs  had  been  from  time  to  time  renewed  ;  but 
fortune  seemed  at  length  to  have  decided  the  struggle 
in  favour  of  the  latter  family,  and  the  name  of  El 
Mostanser  Billah  was  formally  introduced  into  the 
Khotbah  (or  Friday  'bidding  prayer'),  in  the  sacred 
mosques  of  Mecca  and  Jerusalem — a  proceeding  which 
was  tantamount  to  recognising  the  Fatemite  monarch 
as  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  Prophet  and  sovereign 
of  the  whole  Mussulman  empire.  But  scarcely  had 
they  attained  the  summit  of  their  ambition  when  the 
fall  came,  and  events  happened  which  resulted  in  the 
total  overthrow  of  the  Fatemite  dynasty,  and  the 
restoration,  in  name  at  least,  of  the  authority  of  the 
Abbasside  caliphs. 

The  nomad  tribe  of  Turkomans  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  Khorassan,  and  determined  upon  the  elec- 
tion of  a  king.  Toghrul  Beg,  a  grandson  of  a  noble 
chief  named  Seljuk,  was  chosen  by  lot  for  the  office, 
and  in  a  short  time  extended  his  conquests  over  the 
whole  of  Persia  ;  and,  being  a  rigid  Mohammedan  of 
the  orthodox  sect,  compelled  the  revolted  lieutenants 
of  the  Abbasside  caliphs  to  return  to  their  allegiance. 
For  this  service  he  was  named  Emir  el  Omara  ('  Chief 
of  chiefs  '),  and  appointed  the  vicegerent  and  protector 
of  the  caliph.  His  nephew,  Alp  Arslan,  succeeded 
him,  and,  after  a  brilliant  career  of  conquest,  left  the 
sceptre  to  his  son  Melik  Shah  (a.d.  1072).  This  prince, 
a  worthy  scion  of  the  Seljukian  line,  resolved  upon  the 
extension  of  the  Fatemite  dynasty,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  his  own  authority  in  Syria  and  Egypt.  His 
lieutenant,  Atsiz,  a  native  of  Kha'rezm,  invaded  the 
former  country,  and  took  possession  of  Ramleh  and 
Jerusalem — the  latter  after  a  protracted  siege.  The 
names  of  the  Abbasside  caliph  and  of  the  Sultan  Melik 


EG YPTIAN  CONQUEST.  1 2 1 

Shah  were  now  formally  substituted  for  that  of  the 
Egyptian  caliph,  El  Mostanser  Billah,  in  the  Friday 
Khotba,  at  the  Masjid  el  Aksa.  Five  years  later  he 
besieged  Damascus,  and  the  capital  of  Syria  also  fell 
before  his  troops  :  the  inhabitants,  already  reduced  to 
the  last  extremities  by  famine,  were  punished  for  their 
resistance  by  the  resentful  Emir,  and,  the  city  being 
given  up  to  pillage,  the  most  frightful  scenes  of  carnage 
ensued.  Emboldened  by  this  victory,  he  marched 
upon  Egypt  at  the  head  of  a  large  army  of  Turkomans, 
Kurds,  and  Arabs,  and  laid  siege  to  Cairo.  Here,  how- 
ever, he  w7as  repulsed  with  considerable  loss,  and  com- 
pelled to  return  to  Syria,  which  he  found  already  in  a 
state  of  insurrection  against  his  authority.  Those  of 
his  troops  who  had  escaped  slaughter  in  Egypt  were 
butchered  by  the  insurgents  as  they  passed  Palestine  ; 
and  Atsiz,  accompanied  only  by  a  small  band  of  ad- 
herents, escaped  with  difficulty  to  Damascus,  where 
his  brother  had  been  left  at  the  head  of  affairs  during 
his  absence.  Jerusalem  had  in  the  meantime  risen 
against  the  Turkish  chief;  but  the  insurrection  was 
soon  quelled,  and  the  Cadhi  and  other  municipal 
officers,  together  with  three  thousand  of  the  in- 
habitants, were  put  to  death.  Atsiz  was  shortly  after- 
wards besieged  in  Damascus  by  the  Egyptian  forces, 
and  called  in  to  his  aid  the  Emir  Tutush,  a  son  of  Alp 
Arslan.  The  Egyptians  fled  without  attempting  to 
oppose  the  advancing  army,  and  Emir  Tutush  was 
welcomed  by  Atsiz  at  the  city-gate.  Jealous,  doubt- 
less, of  his  subordinate's  previous  victories  and  growing 
influence,  the  prince  commanded  him  to  be  seized  and 
executed  upon  the  spot,  alleging,  as  an  excuse  for  the 
barbarous  act,  that  the  general  had  been  wanting  in 
respect,  and   had   not   awarded   him  the   reception  to 


122  JERUSALEM. 


which  his  rank  entitled  him.  The  Emir  Tutush  now 
assumed  the  post  of  governor-general  of  Syria,  and 
assigned  that  of  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  to  a  Turkish 
chief  named  Urtuk  ibn  Eksek,  who  remained  in 
authority  until  a.d.  iogi.  Urtuk  was  succeeded  by 
his  two  sons,  Elghazi  and  Sukman,  who  ruled  Jeru- 
salem until  the  assassination  of  Tutush  at  Damascus 
in  a.d.  1095.  Taking  advantage  of  the  disturbances 
which  followed  upon  this  event,  the  Fatimite  caliph  of 
Egypt,  El  Most'aila  Billah,  sent  his  general,  Afdhal 
el  Jemali,  with  a  large  force,  into  Syria.  Damascus 
yielded  without  a  blow  in  the  month  of  July,  1096,  and 
Syria  and  Palestine  remained  for  some  time  afterwards 
in  the  hands  of  the  Egyptian  government. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    CHRISTIAN    PILGRIMS. 

Dulce  mihi  cruciari  ; 

Parva  vis  doloris  est  : 
Malo  mori  quam  faedari  : 

Major  vis  amoris  est. 

Hymn  attributed  to  St.  Augustine. 

At  what  period  in  the  history  of  Christianity  began 
the  practice  of  going  on  pilgrimage  it  is  difficult  to 
decide.  Probably  the  first  places  held  sacred  were 
those  of  local  martyrs  and  confessors  to  the  faith. 
Every  part  of  the  civilized  world  had  these  in  abund- 
ance :  there  was  not  a  village  where  some  saint  had 
not  fallen  a  victim  to  persecution,  not  a  town  which 
could  not  boast  of  its  roll  of  martyrs.  When  the  day 
of  persecution  was  over,  and  stories  of  miracles  and 
wonderful  cures  at  holy  shrines  began  to  grow,  it  was 
natural  that  the  minds  of  a  credulous  age  should  turn 
to  the  holiest  place  of  all,  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  It 
had  so  turned  even  before  the  invention  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  for  Helena  herself  was  on  a  pilgrimage  when 
she  made  her  discovery.  But  the  story  noised  abroad, 
the  building  by  Constantine  of  the  Church  of  the 
Martyrdom,  and  the  immediate  fixing,  without  any 
hesitation,  of  all  the  sacred  sites  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament,  were  the  causes  of  a  vast  increase  in  the 
number  of  pilgrims  who  every  year  flocked  to  Jeru- 
salem.    And  then  flames,  which  burst  from  the  founda- 


124  JERUSALEM. 

tions  of  the  Temple  when  Julian  made  his  vain  attempt 
to  rebuild  it,  were  reported  throughout  Christendom, 
and  added  to  the  general  enthusiasm.  For  the  feeble 
faith  of  the  nations  had  to  be  supported  by  miracles 
ever  new.  Moreover,  the  dangers  of  the  way  were 
diminished  ;  more  countries  day  by  day  became 
Christian  ;  the  pagans,  who  had  formerly  intercepted 
and  killed  the  pilgrims  on  the  road,  were  now  them- 
selves in  hiding;  the  Christians  destroyed  the  old 
shrines  and  temples  wherever  they  found  them ;  and 
all  the  roads  were  open  to  the  pious  worshipper  who 
only  desired  to  pray  at  the  sacred  places. 

But  the  passion  for  pilgrimages  grew  to  so  great  an 
extent,  and  was  accompanied  by  so  many  dangers  to 
virtue  and  good  manners,  that  attempts  were  made 
from  time  to  time  to  check  it.  Augustine  teaches  that 
God  is  approached  better  by  love  than  by  long  travel. 
Gregory  of  Nyssa  points  out  that  pilgrimage  of  itself 
avails  nothing ;  and  Jerome  declares  that  heaven  may 
be  reached  as  easily  from  Britain  as  from  Jerusalem, 
that  an  innumerable  throng  of  saints  never  saw  the 
city,  and  that  the  sacred  places  themselves  have  been 
polluted  by  the  images  of  idols. 

But  this  teaching  was  in  vain.  Going  on  pilgrimage 
served  too  many  ends,  and  gratified  too  many  desires. 
Piety,  no  doubt,  in  greater  or  less  degree  had  always 
something  to  do  with  a  resolve  to  undertake  a  long  and 
painful  journey.  But  there  were  other  motives.  The 
curious  man,  by  becoming  a  pilgrim,  was  enabled  to  see 
the  world  ;  the  lazy  man  to  escape  work;  the  adventu- 
rous man  to  find  adventures  ;  the  credulous  and  imagi- 
native man  to  fill  his  mind  with  stories  ;  the  vain  man 
to  gratify  his  vanity,  and  procure  life-long  honour  at  the 
cost  of  some  peril  and  fatigue ;  the  sincere  to  wipe  off 


PA  SSION  FOR  PIL  GRIM  A  GES.  125 

his  sins  ;  and  all  alike  believed  that  they  were  doing  an 
act  meritorious  in  itself  and  pleasing  in  the  sight  of 
heaven. 

The  doctors  of  the  Church  protested,  but  in  vain. 
Indeed,  they  often  went  themselves.  St.  Porphyry, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Gaza,  was  one  of  those  who 
went.  He  had  betaken  himself  to  the  Thebaid  at 
the  age  of  twenty,  to  become  a  hermit.  There,  after 
five  years  of  austerities,  he  became  seized  with  an 
irresistible  desire  to  see  Jerusalem.  Afflicted  with  a 
painful  disorder,  and  hardly  able  to  hold  himself 
upright,  he  managed  to  crawl  across  the  deserts  to  the 
city ;  as  soon  as  he  arrived  there,  he  sent  his  com- 
panion back  to  Thessalonica,  his  native  place,  with  in- 
junctions to  sell  all  that  he  had  and  distribute  the 
proceeds  among  the  faithful.  And  then  he  laid  himself 
down  to  die.  Mark  departed  ;  what  was  his  astonish- 
ment, on  returning,  his  mission  accomplished,  to  find  his 
friend  restored  to  health  !  Porphyry  went  no  more  to 
the  Thebaid,  probably  but  a  dull  place  at  best,  even  for 
a  hermit,  and  betaking  himself  to  a  handicraft,  he 
preached  the  Gospel  and  became  a  bishop.  St.  Jerome 
himself,  in  spite  of  his  protests,  went  to  Palestine, 
accompanied  by  Eusebius  of  Cremona.  The  voice  of 
calumny  had  attacked  Jerome  in  revenge  for  his  ex- 
posure of  the  sins  and  follies  of  the  day,  and  he  was 
pleased  to  leave  Rome.  The  two  future  saints  landed 
at  Antioch,  and  after  seeing  Jerusalem  went  on  to 
Bethlehem,  and  thence  to  the  Thebaid,  where  they 
solaced  themselves  with  admiring  the  austerities  of  the 
self-tormentors,  the  hermits  there.  Returning  thence 
to  Bethlehem,  they  resolved  on  selling  their  property 
and  forming  a  monastery  in  that  town.  This  they 
accomplished  by  the  assistance  of  Paula  and  Eudoxia, 


;26  JERUSALEM. 


two  noble  ladies,  mother  and  daughter,  who  followed 
them  to  Palestine,  and  passed  their  lives,  like  Jerome 
himself,  under  a  rigid  rule  of  prayer  and  labour.  Paula 
died  in  Bethlehem.  Her  daughter  and  Jerome,  less 
happy,  were  turned  out  of  their  peaceful  retreat  by  a 
band  of  Arabs,  bribed,  we  are  told,  by  the  heretics 
in  Jerusalem,  who  burned  and  pillaged  the  monastic 
houses,  dispersed  the  monks  and  nuns,  and  drove  the 
venerable  Jerome,  then  past  the  age  of  seventy  years, 
to  a  bed  from  which  he  never  rose  again. 

The  story  of  the  pilgrimage  of  Paula  is  useful  because 
it  shows  that  the  multiplication  of  the  sacred  sites  was 
not  due  entirely  to  the  invention  of  later  times.  At 
Caesarea  she  saw  the  house  of  Cornelius  the  centurion 
turned  into  a  church  ;  and  here,  also,  was  the  house  of 
Saint  Philip,  and  the  chambers  of  his  four  virgin 
daughters,  prophetesses  :  on  Mount  Zion  she  saw  the 
column  where  our  Lord  was  scourged,  still  stained  with 
His  blood,  and  supporting  the  gallery  of  a  church  ; 
she  saw,  too,  the  place  where  the  Holy  Spirit  descended 
on  the  Apostles  ;  at  Bethphage  they  showed  her  the 
sepulchre  of  Lazarus,  and  the  house  of  Mary  and 
Martha  ;  on  Mount  Ephraim  she  saw  the  tombs  of 
Joshua  and  Eleazar ;  at  Shechem  the  well  of  Jacob, 
and  the  tombs  of  the  twelve  patriarchs,  and  at  Samaria 
the  tombs  of  Elisha  and  John  the  Baptist.  Hither 
were  brought  those  possessed  with  devils  that  they 
might  be  exorcised,  and  Paula  herself  was  an  eye- 
witness of  the  miraculous  cure  effected.  With  regard 
to  miracles,  indeed,  Antoninus  Martyr,  to  whose 
testimony  on  the  site  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  we  have  referred  in  another  place,  relates 
many  which  he  himself  pretends  to  have  seen.  If  you 
bring  oil  near  the  true  cross,  he  says,  it  will  boil  of  its 


PAULA  AND  EUDOXIA.  127 

own  accord,  and  must  be  quickly  removed,  or  it  will  all 
escape ;  at  certain  times  a  star  from  heaven  rests  on 
the  cross,  f  He  tells  us,  too,  that  there  is  on  Sinai  an 
idol,  fixed  there  by  the  infidels,  in  white  marble,  which 
on  days  of  ceremony  changes  colour  and  becomes  quite 
black. 

The  impending  fall  of  the  empire,  and  the  invasion 
of  the  hordes  of  barbarians,  proved  but  a  slight  check 
to  the  swarms  of  pilgrims.  For  the  barbarians,  finding 
that  these  unarmed  men  and  women  were  completely 
harmless,  respected  their  helplessness  and  allowed  them 
to  pass  unmolested.  When,  as  happened  shortly  after 
their  settlement  in  Italy  and  the  West,  they  were 
gradually  themselves  brought  within  the  pale  of  the 
Christian  faith,  they  made  laws  which  enforced  the 
protection  and  privileges  of  pilgrims.  These  laws  were 
not,  it  is  true,  always  obeyed. 

The  route  was  carefully  laid  down  for  the  pilgrims  by 
numerous  Itineraries,  the  most  important  of  which  is 
that  called  the  Itinerary  of  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim.  The 
author  starts  from  Bordeaux,  perhaps  because  it  is  his 
own  city,  perhaps  because  it  was  then  the  most  con- 
siderable town  in  the  West  of  Europe.  He  passes 
through  France  by  Auch,  Toulouse,  Narbonne,  thence 
to  Beziers,  Nimes,  and  Aries.  At  Aries  he  turns 
northwards,  and  passes  through  Avignon,  Orange,  and 
Valence,  when  he  again  turns  eastwards  to  Diez, 
Embrun,  and  Briancon;  thence  he  crosses  the  Alps  and 
stops  at  Susa.  In  Italy  he  passes  through  the  towns  of 
Turin,  Pavia,  Milan  (not  because  Milan  was  on  his 
way,  but  because  it  would  be  a  pity  to  lose  the  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  this  splendid  city),  to  Brescia,  Verona, 
and  Aquileia,  a  town  subsequently  destroyed  by  Attila, 
at   the    head   of  the    Gulf  of  Trieste.       Crossing   the 


28  JERUSALEM. 


Italian  Alps,  he  arrives  at  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  of 
the  East.  His  course  lies  next  through  Illyria,  Styria, 
and  along  the  northern  banks  of  the  river  Drave,  which 
he  leaves  after  a  time  and  follows  the  course  of  the 
Save,  to  its  confluence  with  the  Danube  at  Belgrade. 
He  now  follows  the  Danube  until  he  comes  to  the  great 
Roman  road,  which  leads  him  to  Nissa.  Thence, 
still  by  the  road,  to  Philippopolis,  Heraclia,  and 
Constantinople.  Across  Asia  Minor  he  passes  through 
Nicomedia,  Nicaea,  across  what  is  now  Anatolia  to 
Ancyra,  thence  to  Tyana  and  Tarsus.  From  Tarsus 
he  goes  to  Iskanderoon.  thence  to  Antioch,  Tortosa, 
Tripoli  (along  the  Roman  road  which  lay  by  the  Syrian 
sea-board),  Beyrout,  Sidon,  Tyre,  Acre,  and  Csesarea. 
Here  he  leaves  the  direct  and  shortest  way  to 
Jerusalem  in  order  first  to  visit  the  Jordan  and  other 
places. 

It  is  instructive  to  follow  the  route  of  the  pilgrim, 
because  this  was  doubtless  the  road  taken  by  the  hun- 
dreds who  every  year  flocked  to  Jerusalem,  and  because, 
as  we  shall  see,  nearly  the  same  road  was  subsequently 
taken  by  the  Crusaders. 

Palestine,  during  some  centuries,  enjoyed  a  period  of 
profound  peace,  during  which  the  sword  was  sheathed, 
and  no  voice  of  war,  save  that  of  a  foray  of  Arabs,  was 
heard  in  the  land.  Thither  retreated  all  those  who,  like 
Saint  Jerome,  were  indisposed  altogether  to  quit  the 
world,  like  the  hermits  of  Egypt,  but  yet  sought  to  find 
some  quiet  spot  where  they  could  study  and  worship 
undisturbed.  Thither  came  the  monks  turned  out  of 
Africa  by  Genseric  ;  and  when  Belisarius  in  his  turn 
overcame  the  barbarians,  thither  were  brought  back  the 
spoils  of  the  Temple  which  Titus  had  taken  from  Jeru- 
salem.    Nor  was  the  repose  of  the  country  seriously 


MOHAMMEDAN  MA  STERS.  1 29 

disturbed  during  the  long  interval  between  the  revolt  of 
Barcochebas  and  the  invasion  of  the  Persians  under 
Chosroes.  But  after  Heraclius  had  restored  their  city 
to  the  Christians,  a  worse  enemy  even  than  Chosroes 
was  at  hand,  and  when  Caliph  Omar  became  the  master 
of  Jerusalem,  the  quiet  old  days  were  gone  for 
ever. 

The  Mohammedans  were  better  masters  than  the  Per- 
sians ;  they  reverenced  the  name  of  Jesus,  they  spared 
the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  they  even  promised  to 
protect  the  Christians.  But  promises  made  by  the 
caliph  were  not  always  observed  by  his  fanatic  soldiers. 
The  Christians  were  pillaged  and  robbed ;  they  were 
insulted  and  abused  ;  they  were  forced  to  pay  a  heavy 
tribute  ;  forbidden  to  appear  on  horseback,  or  to  wear 
arms  ;  obliged  to  wear  a  leathern  girdle  to  denote  their 
nation  ;  nor  were  they  even  permitted  to  elect  their  own 
bishops  and  clergy. 

The  pilgrims  did  not,  in  consequence  of  these  perse- 
cutions, become  fewer.  To  the  other  excitements  which 
called  them  to  the  Holy  Land  was  now  added  the  chance 
of  martyrdom,  and  the  records  of  the  next  two  centuries 
are  filled  with  stories  of  their  sufferings,  which  appear  to 
have  been  grossly  exaggerated,  at  the  hands  of  the 
Muslim  masters  of  the  city.  If  the  pilgrim  returned 
safely  to  his  home,  there  was  some  comfort  for  his  re- 
lations, deprived  of  the  glory  of  having  a  martyr  in  the 
family,  in  being  able  to  relate  how  he  had  been  buffeted 
and  spat  upon.  To  this  period  belong  the  pilgrimages 
of  Arnulphus  and  Antoninus.  That  of  the  former  is 
valuable,  inasmuch  as  not  only  his  own  account  has 
been  preserved,  but  even  the  map  which  he  drew  up 
from  memory.  Bede  made  use  of  his  narrative,  which 
was  taken  down  by  the  abbot  Adamnanus,  who  gave 

9 


i3o  JERUSALEM. 


Arnulphus  hospitality  when  he  was  shipwrecked  in  the 
Hebrides  on  his  return. 

So  extensive  was  the  desire  to  '  pilgrimize,'  so  many- 
people  deserted  their  towns  and  villages,  leaving  their 
work  undone  and  their  families  neglected,  while  disorders 
multiplied  on  the  road,  and  virtue  was  subjected  to  so 
many  more  temptations  on  the  way  to  the  Holy  Land 
than  were  encountered  at  home,  that  the  Church,  about 
the  ninth  century,  interfered,  and  assumed  the  power  to 
grant  or  to  withhold  the  privilege  of  pilgrimage.  The 
candidate  had  first  to  satisfy  the  bishop  of  his  diocese 
of  his  moral  character,  that  he  went  away  with  the  full 
consent  of  his  friends  and  relations,  and  that  he  was 
actuated  by  no  motives  of  curiosity,  indolence,  or  a 
desire  to  obtain  in  other  lands  a  greater  license  and 
freedom  of  action.  If  these  points  were  not  answered 
satisfactorily,  permission  was  withheld  ;  and  if  the 
applicant  belonged  to  one  of  the  monastic  orders,  he 
found  it  far  more  difficult  to  obtain  the  required 
authority.  For  it  had  been  only  too  well  proved  that 
in  assuming  the  pilgrim's  robe  the  monks  were  often 
only  embracing  an  opportunity  to  return  to  the  world 
again.  But  when  all  was  satisfactory,  and  the  bishop 
satisfied  as  to  the  personal  piety  of  the  applicant,  the 
Church  dismissed  him  on  his  journey  with  a  service  and 
a  benediction.  He  was  solemnly  invested  with  the 
scrip  and  staff,  he  put  on  the  long  woollen  robe  which 
formed  the  chief  part  of  his  dress,  the  clergy  and  his 
own  friends  accompanied  him  to  the  boundaries  of  his 
parish,  and  there,  after  giving  him  a  letter  or  a  pass- 
port which  insured  him  hospitality  so  long  as  he  was 
in  Christian  countries,  they  sent  him  on  his  way. 

'  In  the  name  of  God,'  ran  the  commendatory  letter, 
'  we  would  have  your  highness  or  holiness  to  know  that 


THE  PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS.  131 

the  bearer  of  the  present  letters,  our  brother,  has  asked 
our  permission  to  go  peaceably  on  pilgrimage  to  Jerusa- 
lem, either  for  his  own  sins,  or  to  pray  for  our  preserva- 
tion.    Thereupon,  we    have  given  him    these  present 
letters,  in  which  we  salute  you,  and  pray  you,  for  the  love 
of  God  and  Saint  Peter,  to  receive  him  as  your  guest,  to 
be  useful  to  him  in  going  and  coming  back,  so  that  he 
may  return  in  safety  to  his  house  ;  and,  as  is  your  good 
custom,  make   him  pass   happy  days.      May  God   the 
Eternal  King  protect  you,  and  keep  you  in  His  kingdom !' 
Thus  provided,  the  pilgrim  found  hostels  open  for  him, 
and  every  castle  and  monastery  ready  to  receive  him. 
Long  and  weary  his  journey  may  have  been,  but  it  could 
not  have  been  tedious  to  him,  with  eyes  to  see  and 
observe,  when  every  city  was  a  sort  of  new  world,  when 
a  new  country  lay  beyond  every  hill,  and  new  manners 
and  customs  were  marked  on  every  day.    The  perils  and 
dangers  of  the  way  were  not  until  the  Mohammedan  con- 
quest— nor  indeed  after  it,  until  the  time  of  Hakem — 
very  great.     True,  the  woods  harboured  wild  beasts,  but 
the  pilgrims  travelled  in  bands  ;  and  there  were  robbers, 
but  these  did   not  rob   those  who   had   nothing.     The 
principal    dangers   were    those    of    which    they    knew 
nothing,  the  diseases  due  to  malaria,  exposure,   sun- 
stroke, fatigue,  and  change  of  climate.     These,  and  not 
the  Turks,  were  the  chief  enemies  of  pilgrims.      And, 
in  spite  of  these  known  and  unknown  dangers,  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  pilgrimage  to  Syria  was  a 
long  series  of  new  and  continually  changing  wonders  and 
surprises.     The  Church  which  blessed  the  pilgrim  also 
celebrated  the  act  of  pilgrimage,  and  a  service  has  been 
preserved  which  was  performed  on  the  Second  Sunday 
after  Easter,  in  the   cathedral  of  Rouen.     Of  this  the 
following  is  an  abridgment :   In  the  nave  of  the  church 

9—2 


132  JERUSALEM. 


was  erected  a  fort,  '  castellum,'  representing  that  house 
at  Emmaus  where  the  two  travellers  entered  and  broke 
bread  with  Christ.  At  the  appointed  time  two  priests, 
'of  the  second  seats,'  appointed  for  the  day,  came 
forth  from  the  vestry,  singing  the  hymn  which  begins 
'  Jesu,  nostra  redemptio.'  They  were  to  be  dressed  in 
tunics,  '  et  desuper  cappis  transversum,'  were  to  have 
long  flowing  hair  and  beards,  and  were  each  to  carry  a 
staff  and  scrip.  Singing  this  hymn  and  slowly  march- 
ing down  the  right  aisle,  they  came  to  the  western  porch, 
when  they  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  "the  procession 
of  choristers  waiting  for  them,  and  all  began  together  to 
sing, '  Nos  tuo  vultu  saties.'  Then  the  priest  for  the  day, 
robed  in  alb  and  surplice,  barefooted,  carrying  a  cross 
on  his  right  shoulder,  advanced  to  meet  them,  and 
'  suddenly  standing  before  them,'  asked  : 

'  What  manner  of  communications  are  these  that  ye 
have  one  to  another  as  ye  walk,  and  are  sad  ?' 

To  which  the  two  pilgrims  replied : 

'  Art  thou  only  a  stranger  in  Jerusalem,  and  hast  not 
known  the  things  which  are  come  to  pass  there  in  these 
days  ?' 

'  What  things  ?'  asked  the  priest. 

'  Concerning  Jesus  of  Nazareth,'  they  replied,  with 
the  words  which  follow. 

'  Oh,  fools  !'  said  the  priest,  '  and  slow  of  heart,  to 
believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken.' 

And  then,  feigning  to  retire,  the  priest  would  there 
have  left  them,  but  they  held  him  back,  and,  pointing  to 
the  '  castellum,'  entreated  him  to  enter,  singing, '  Abide 
with  us,  for  it  is  towards  evening,  and  the  day  is  far 
spent.'  Then,  singing  another  hymn,  they  led  him  to 
the  '  Fort  of  Emmaus,'  when  they  entered  and  sat  down 
at  a  table  already  spread  for  supper.     Here  the  priest 


THE  PILGRIM'S  SERVICE.  133 

brake  bread,  sitting  between  them,  and  being  recog- 
nised by  this  act  for  the  Lord,  '  suddenly  vanished  out 
of  their  sight.'  The  pilgrims,  pretending  to  be  stupefied, 
arose  and  sung  sorrowfully  {lamentabilitev),  '  Alleluia,' 
with  the  verse,  '  Did  not  our  hearts  burn  within  us, 
while  He  talked  with  us  by  the  way,  and  while  He 
opened  to  us  the  Scriptures  ?' 

Singing  this  twice  they  walked  to  the  pulpit,  where 
they  sang  the  verse,  '  Die  nobis  Maria.'  After  this, 
another  priest,  dressed  in  a  dalmatic  and  surplice,  with 
head  muffled  up  like  a  woman,  came  to  them  and  sang, 
'  Sepulcrum  Christi  Angelicos  testes/ 

He  then  took  up  a  cloth  from  one  place,  and  a  second 
from  another  place,  and  threw  them  before  the  great 
door  of  the  choir.  '  And  then  let  him  sing,  "  Christ  has 
risen,"  and  let  the  choir  chaunt  the  two  other  verses 
which  follow,  and  let  the  women  and  the  pilgrims 
retire  within  ;  and  the  memory  of  this  act  being  thus 
recalled,  let  the  procession  return  to  the  choir,  and  the 
vespers  be  finished.' 

These  ceremonies  were  not,  of  course,  designed  to 
meet  the  case  of  pilgrimages  undertaken  by  way  of 
penance.  These  were  of  two  kinds,  minor es  peregrina- 
tiones,  which  were  pilgrimages  on  foot  to  local  shrines, 
such  as,  later  on,  that  of  St.  Thomas-a-Becket,  for 
instance ;  or  majoves,  to  Rome  or  Jerusalem.  The 
latter,  of  which  Frotmond's  pilgrimage — which  will  be 
described  further  on — is  an  example,  were  for  murder, 
sacrilege,  or  for  any  other  great  crime.  One  of  the 
rules  as  regards  a  murderer  was  as  follows  :  '  Let  a 
chain  be  made  of  the  very  sword  with  which  the  crime 
was  committed,  and  let  the  neck,  arms,  and  body  of 
the  criminal  be  bound  round  with  this  chain ;  thus  let 
him  be  driven   from   his   native  country,   and  wander 


i34  JERUSALEM. 


whither  the  Pope  shall  direct  him,  till  by  long  prayer 
he  obtain  the  Divine  mercy.' 

The  roads  were  crowded  with  these  miserable 
wretches,  limping  along  to  their  shrines.  Only  the 
more  distinguished,  either  in  rank  or  enormity  of 
offence,  were  ordered  to  go  to  Palestine.  The  custom 
was  carried  on  to  comparatively  late  times,  and  it  was 
not  till  the  fourteenth  century  that  a  law  was  passed 
restraining  the  practice — '  better  is  it  that  these 
criminals  should  remain  all  together  in  one  place,  and 
there  work  out  the  sentence  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
Church,' — so  long  was  it  before  justice  was  taken  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  Church. 

It  could  not  have  added  greatly  to  the  delights  of 
travelling  ill  these  days  occasionally  to  meet  bands  of 
these  wretches,  toiling  painfully  along,  half  naked,  and 
dragging  the  weight  of  their  chains,  while  they  im- 
plored the  prayers  and  alms  of  the  passers-by. 

But  the  triumph  of  the  pilgrim  (not  the  criminal) 
was  in  coming  home  again.  Bearing  a  palm  branch 
in  his  hands,  as  a  sign  that  he  had  seen  the  sacred 
places,  he  narrated  his  adventures,  and  gathered — those 
at  least  that  were  poor — alms  in  plenty.  Arrived  at  his 
native  village,  the  palm  branch  was  solemnly  offered  at 
the  altar,  and  the  pilgrim  returned  to  his  home  to 
spend  the  rest  of  his  life  in  telling  of  the  miracles  he 
had  seen  wrought. 

Not  all,  however,  came  home.  So  long  as  the  pilgrim 
passed  the  rough  lands  where  his  passport  was  recog- 
nised, all  was  easy  enough.  He  got  food  to  eat,  and  a 
bed  to  sleep  in.  But  he  sometimes  came  to  places,  if 
he  went  by  way  of  Constantinople,  where  there  were 
no  monasteries,  and  where  his  passport  proved  useless. 
The  ferocious  Bulgarians,  or  the  treacherous  Croats, 


WILLI  BALD.  135 


in  theory  friendly,  and  by  profession  Christian,  some- 
times proved  cut-throats  and  robbers.  The  Moham- 
medans, though  they  acknowledged  the  harmlessness 
of  the  crowds  that  flocked  about  the  gates,  could  not 
avoid  showing  the  contempt  they  naturally  felt  for 
those  who  refused  to  think  as  they  thought  themselves; 
when  the  pilgrims  arrived  at  the  city,  they  could  not 
enter  without  payment,  and  often  they  had  no  money 
to  pay.  And  if  they  were  able  to  pay  for  admission, 
they  were  not  exempt  from  the  insults  of  the  Saracens, 
who  sometimes  pleased  themselves  with  interrupting 
the  sacred  office,  trampling  on  the  vessels  of  the  Eucha- 
rist, and  even  scourging  the  priests. 

But  these  persecutions  belong  to  a  somewhat  later 
time  than  we  have  yet  arrived  at. 

About  the  same  time  as  the  pilgrimage  of  Arnulf 
took  place  that  of  Willibald.  Willibald,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Eichstadt,  was  an  Englishman  by  birth. 
He  was  dedicated  at  an  early  age  by  his  father  to  the 
monastic  life,  and  received  a  pious  and  careful  educa- 
tion. 

Arrived  at  the  period  of  manhood,  he  persuaded 
his  father,  his  sister  Walpurga,  and  his  brother  Wune- 
bald,  accompanied  by  a  large  party  of  servants  and 
followers,  to  undertake  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine.  In 
Italy  his  father  died,  and  his  brother  and  sister  left  him 
and  returned  to  England.  Willibald,  with  a  few  com- 
panions, went  on  eastward.  At  Emessa  they  were  re- 
tained, but  not  harmed,  by  the  Emir,  but,  released 
through  the  intercession  of  a  Spanish  merchant,  they 
proceeded  to  Jerusalem.  Willibald  visited  the  city  no 
less  than  four  times.  He  was  once,  we  are  told, 
miraculously  cured  of  blindness  by  praying  at  the 
church  where  the  Cross  had  been  found.     Probably  he 


36  JERUSALEM. 


had  contracted  an  ophthalmia,  of  which  he  recovered 
in  Jerusalem. 

About  the  year  800,  Charlemagne  conceived  the  idea 
of  sending  a  special  embassy  to  the  Caliph  Harun  er 
Raschid.  He  sent  three  ambassadors,  two  of  whom 
died  on  the  way.  The  third,  Isaac  the  Jew,  returned 
after  five  years'  absence,  bearing  the  presents  of  the 
great  caliph,  and  accompanied  by  his  envoys.  The 
presents  consisted  of  an  elephant,  which  caused  huge 
surprise  to  the  people,  carved  ivory,  incense,  a  clock, 
and  the  keys  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
Charlemagne  sent,  in  return,  white  and  green  robes,  and 
a  pack  of  his  best  hounds.  He  also  astonished  the 
caliph's  envoys  by  the  magnificence  of  his  church 
ceremonials.  Charlemagne  established  a  hostel  at 
Jerusalem  for  the  use  of  pilgrims,  and  continued  to 
cultivate  friendly  relations  with  Haroun.  The  latter, 
for  his  part,  inculcated  a  toleration  far  enough  indeed 
from  the  spirit  of  his  creed,  and  ordered  that  the 
Christians  should  not  be  molested  in  the  exercise  of 
their  worship. 

One  of  the  most  singular  histories  of  the  time  is 
that,  already  alluded  to,  of  the  pilgrimage  of  Frotmond. 
At  the  death  of  their  father,  Frotmond  and  his  brothers 
proceeded  to  divide  the  property  which  he  left  behind. 
A  great-uncle,  an  ecclesiastic,  in  some  way  interfered 
with  the  partition  of  the  estates,  and  roused  them  to 
so  great  a  fury  that  they  killed  him.  But  immediately 
afterwards,  struck  with  horror  at  the  crime  they  had 
committed,  they  betook  themselves  to  the  court  of 
King  Lothaire,  and  professed  their  penitence  and 
resolution  to  perform  any  penance.  In  the  midst  of 
an  assembly  of  prelates  the  guilty  brothers  were  bound 
with  chains,  clothed  with   hair  shirts,  and  with  their 


FROTMOND.  137 


bodies  and  hair  covered  with  ashes,  were  enjoined  thus 
to  visit  the  sacred  places.  They  went  first  to  Rome, 
where  Benedict  III.  received  them  and  gave  them 
letters  of  recommendation.  Thence  they  went  by  sea 
to  Palestine,  and  spent  four  years  in  Jerusalem,  practis- 
ing every  kind  of  austerity  and  mortification.  Thence, 
because  their  penance  was  not  hard  enough,  they  went 
to  the  Thebaid  in  Egypt,  where  they  remained  two  years 
more  among  hermits  the  most  rigid,  and  self-tormentors 
the  most  cruel.  They  then  wandered  along  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean  to  Carthage,  where  was  the  tomb  of 
Saint  Cyprian.  After  seven  years  of  suffering  they 
returned  to  Rome,  and  begged  for  the  pardon  of  the 
Church.  It  was  in  vain.  They  had  murdered  a  church- 
man ;  they  were  of  noble  birth  ;  and  the  example  must 
be  striking.  And  once  more  they  set  off  for  a  renewal 
of  their  weary  travels  in  lands  already  familiar  to  them. 
This  time,  after  revisiting  Jerusalem,  they  went  north 
to  Galilee,  and  then  south  to  Sinai,  where  they  re- 
mained for  three  years.  Again  they  returned  to  Rome 
and  again  implored  the  pardon  of  the  Pope,  again  to 
be  refused.  And  then,  tired,  we  may  suppose,  of  suffer- 
ings which  seemed  useless,  and  fatigues  without  an 
object,  they  bent  their  steps  homewards.  At  Rennes 
the  eldest  brother  died,  unforgiven.  Frotmond  turned 
his  steps  once  more  towards  Rome.  But  on  the  way 
he  was  met  by  an  aged  man.  '  Return,'  said  he,  '  to 
the  sanctuary  which  thou  hast  quitted.  I  order  thee, 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  !  It  is  there  that  absolution 
waits  thee  by  the  mercy  of  God.' 

He  turned  back  :  the  weight  of  his  chains  had  bent 
him  double,  he  could  not  stand  upright,  the  sores 
which  the  iron  had  caused  were  putrefying,  and 
the  time  of  his  deliverance  from  the  earth  seemed  to 


i38  JERUSALEM. 


draw  nigh.  In  the  night  the  same  old  man  appeared 
again,  accompanied  by  two  fair  youths.  '  Master,'  said 
one,  '  it  is  time  to  restore  health  to  this  pilgrim.'  '  Not 
yet,'  replied  the  old  man,  '  but  when  the  monks  shall 
rise  to  chant  the  vigils.'  At  the  hour  of  vigils  Frot- 
mond  crawled  with  the  rest  into  the  church.  There  he 
fell  asleep,  and  while  he  slept,  the  old  man  appeared 
again  and  tore  off  the  chains,  which  fell  to  the  ground, 
and  by  the  noise  of  their  falling  awakened  Frotmond. 
They  placed  him  in  a  bed,  and  in  three  days  he  was 
well  and  sound  again,  miraculously  cured  of  his  fester- 
ing sores  ;  but  he  was  not  yet  satisfied,  and  was  pre- 
paring for  a  third  pilgrimage  when  he  fell  ill  and  died. 
The  old  man  and  the  dream  :  were  they  his  disguise  for 
a  resolution  to  endure  no  more  the  tyranny  of  the 
Church  ?  or  were  they  the  invention  of  a  later  time,  and 
of  some  bolder  spirit  than  the  rest,  who  would  not  allow 
that  to  Rome  alone  belonged  the  power  of  binding  and 
of  loosing  ? 

With  the  passion  for  pilgrimages  grew  up  the  desire 
to  find  and  to  possess  relics.  These,  towards  the  end 
of  the  tenth  century,  when  a  general  feeling  that  the 
end  of  the  world  was  approaching  caused  the  building 
of  new  churches  everywhere  and  the  reconstruction  of 
old  ones,  were  found  in  great  abundance.  '  Thanks  to 
certain  revelations  and  some  signs,'  says  Raoul  the 
Bald,  '  we  succeeded  in  finding  holy  relics,  long  hidden 
from  human  eyes.  The  saints  themselves,  by  word  of 
God,  appeared  to  the  faithful  and  reclaimed  an  earthly 
resurrection.'  The  revelations  began  at  Sens-sur- 
Yonne,  in  Burgundy,  where  they  still  show  a  goodly 
collection  of  holy  bones,  including  the  finger  with 
which  Luke  wrote  his  Gospel,  and  the  chair  in  which 
he  sat  while  he  was  writing  it.     Archbishop  Leuteric 


THE  SEPTEMBER  FAIR.  139 

was  so  fortunate  as  to  find  a  piece  of  Moses'  rod  ; 
with  this  many  miracles  were  wrought.  Almost  every 
returning  pilgrim  had  something  which  he  had  either 
picked  up,  or  bought,  or  been  instructed  in  a  vision  of 
the  night  to  bring  home  with  him.  This  treasure  he 
deposited  in  the  parish  church  :  pious  people  set  it 
with  pearls  and  precious  stones,  or  enclosed  it  in  a 
golden  casket  :  stories  grew  up  about  it,  sick  people 
resorted  to  the  place  to  be  cured,  and  one  more  legend 
was  added  to  the  innumerable  fables  of  relics.  It  is 
useful  to  remember,  as  regards  the  pilgrimages,  the 
finding  of  relics,  and  the  strange  heresies  of  the  time, 
that  it  was  a  period  of  great  religious  excitement,  as 
well  as  of  profound  ignorance  :  nothing  was  too 
wonderful  to  be  believed  ;  no  one  so  wise  as  not  to  be 
credulous.  No  one  had  actually  seen  a  miracle  with 
his  own  eyes,  but  everybody  knew  of  countless  miracles 
seen  by  his  neighbour's  eyes.  Meantime  the  toleration 
granted  to  the  Christians  through  the  wisdom  of  Harun 
er  Raschid  continued  pretty  well  undisturbed  for  many 
years,  and  life  at  least  was  tolerably  safe,  though  insult 
might  be  probable  and  even  certain. 

Commerce,  the  great  civilizer,  had  its  own  part,  too, 
in  keeping  the  peace  between  Christian  and  infidel. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  every  September  there  was  held  a 
kind  of  fair  in  Jerusalem.  Thither  flocked  merchants 
from  Pisa,  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Marseilles,  eager  to 
satisfy  at  once  their  desire  for  gain,  and  their  desire  to 
obtain  a  reputation  for  piety.  And  for  a  short  time 
Jerusalem  seems  to  have  served  as  the  chief  emporium, 
whither  the  East  sent  her  treasures,  to  sell  them  to  the 
West. 

The  objects  in  demand  at  this  fair  were  those  which 
were  luxuries  to  the  West :  cloves,  nutmegs,  and  mace 


i4o  JERUSALEM. 


from  India  ;  pepper,  ginger,  and  frankincense  by  way 
of  Aden;  silks  from  India  and  China;  sugar  from 
Syria  ;*  dates,  cassia,  and  flax  from  Egypt  ;  and 
from  the  same  country  quicksilver,  coral,  and  metals ; 
glass  from  Tyre ;  almonds,  saffron,  and  mastic,  with 
rich  stuffs  and  weapons  from  Damascus  ;  and  dyed 
stuffs  from  Jerusalem  itself,  when  the  Jews  had  a 
monopoly,  for  which  they  paid  a  heavy  tax,  for  dyeing.f 

Gold  in  the  West  was  scarce,  and  the  trade  was 
carried  on  either  by  exchange  or  by  means  of  silver. 
The  chief  traders  were  the  Italians,  but  the  French, 
especially  through  the  port  of  Marseilles,  were  great 
merchants,  and  we  find  Guy  de  Lusignan,  King  of 
Jerusalem,  according  to  French  traders  singular 
privileges  and  immunities,  solely  in  reward  for  their 
assistance  at  Saint  Jean  d'Acre. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  trade  had  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  pilgrimages.  The  two  motives  which 
most  of  all  persuade  men  cheerfully  to  incur  danger  are 
religion  and  gain.  When  were  the  two  more  closely 
allied  than  in  those  comparatively  peaceful  times  when 
Jerusalem  was  open  both  to  worshippers  and  traders  ? 
With  his  money-bags  tied  to  his  girdle,  the  merchant 
could  at  once  perform  the  sacred  rites  which,  as  most 
believed,  made  him  secure  of  heaven,  and  could 
purchase  those  Eastern  luxuries  for  which  the  princes 
of  the  West  were  ready  to  pay  so  dearly.     A  state  of 

*  Albert  of  Aix  speaks  of  the  Crusaders  first  coming  upon  the 
sugar-cane  :  'The  people  sucked  sweet  reeds  which  were  found  in 
abundance  in  the  meadows,  called  zucra.  .  .  .  This  reed  is  grown 
with  the  greatest  care  every  year  ;  at  the  time  of  harvest  the  natives 
crush  it  in  mortars,  and  collect  the  juice  in  vessels,  when  they  leave 
it  till  it  hardens,  and  becomes  white  like  snow  or  salt.' 

f  See  Memoires  de  FAcade'mie  des  Inscriptions.  M.  de  Guignes 
sur  l'e'tat  du  commerce  des  Francois  dans  le  Levant  avant  les 
Croisades. 


EL  HAKEM.  141 


things,  however,  so  favourable  to  the  general  welfare  of 
the  world  could  not  be  expected  to  last  very  long. 
Luxury  and  sensuality  destroyed  the  Abbassides,  and 
their  great  kingdom  fell  to  pieces.  Then  Nicephorus 
Phocas,  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  saw  in  the  weakness 
of  the  Mohammedans  the  opportunity  of  the  Christians. 
With  wisdom  worthy  of  Mohammed,  he  resolved  on 
giving  his  invasion  a  religious  character,  and  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  the  clergy  to  proclaim  a  holy 
war.  These,  however,  refused  to  help  him  ;  religion 
and  the  slaughter  of  the  enemy  were  not  to  be  con- 
founded, and  the  great  army  of  Nicephorus,  which 
might  have  been  made  irresistible,  was  disheartened  for 
I  want  of  that  spirit  which  makes  every  soldier  believe 
himself  a  possible  martyr.  The  Greek  Emperor  took 
Antioch,  but  was  prevented  by  death  from  following  up 
his  success,  while  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  was  con- 
demned to  the  flames  on  suspicion  of  having  corre- 
sponded with  the  Greeks.  But  before  the  taking  of 
Antioch  troubles  had  befallen  the  Christians.  The 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  greatly  injured  by 
the  fanatics,  who  took  every  opportunity  of  troubling 
their  victims.  When  it  had  been  restored,  the 
patriarch  was  cast  into  prison  on  a  charge  of  having 
built  his  church  higher  than  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  He 
got  off  by  a  singular  artifice.  An  old  Mohammedan 
offered,  for  a  consideration,  to  show  him  a  way  of 
escape.  His  offer  being  accepted,  he  simply  told  the 
patriarch  to  deny  the  fact,  and  call  on  them  to  prove  it. 
The  plan  succeeded  ;  the  charge,  though  perfectly  true, 
could  not  be  proved,  and  the  patriarch  escaped.* 

At  this  period  the  massacre  of  an  immense  number 

*  Williams's  '  Holy  City,'  vol.  i.,  pp.  338,  339. 


142  JERUSALEM. 


of  Mohammedan  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  Mecca  led  to 
the  substitution  for  thirty  years  of  Jerusalem  for  Mecca.* 

The  city  thus  had  two  streams  of  pilgrims,  one  to 
the  Holy  Rock,  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  and  the  other  to 
the  Holy  Cave,  the  Sepulchre  of  Christ.  Nicephorus 
being  murdered,  John  Zimisces,  his  successor  and 
murderer,  followed  up  his  victories.  He  easily  gained 
possession  of  Damascus  and  Syria,  and  reduced  to  sub- 
mission all  the  cities  of  Palestine.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, enter  Jerusalem,  to  which  he  sent  a  garrison. 
Deatht  interrupted  his  victorious  career,  and  Islam 
once  more  began  to  recover  its  forces.  The  Fatemite 
caliphs,  who  had  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves 
in  Egypt,  made  themselves  masters  of  Jerusalem,  and 
though  for  a  short  time  the  Christians  were  treated 
rather  as  allies  and  friends  than  as  a  conquered  people, 
the  accession  of  Hakem  was  an  event  which  renewed 
all  former  troubles  with  more  than  their  former  weight. 

He  ordered  that  Jews  should  wear  blue  robes  and 
Christians  black,  and  in  order  to  mark  them  yet  more 
distinctively,  that  both  should  wear  black  turbans. 
Christians,  moreover,  were  at  first  ordered  to  wear 
wooden  stirrups,  with  crosses  round  their  necks,  while 
the  Jews  were  compelled  to  carry  round  pieces  of  wood, 
to  signify  the  head  of  the  golden  calf  which  they  had 
worshipped  in  the  desert.  The  destruction  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  by  this  madman  has 
been  already  alluded  to.  J     For  another  account  of  the 

*  See  Chap.  V. 

f  After  having  murdered  Nicephorus,  he  was  himself  poisoned 
by  Basil,  his  grand  chamberlain,  who  succeeded  him.  In  the  Greek 
empire  murder  seems  to  have  formed  the  strongest  title  to  the  crown. 

%  If  there  is  any  one  fact  in  history  which  seems  absolutely  clear 
and  certain,  it  is  this,  that  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was 
destroyed  by  command  of  Hakem.  William  of  Tyre  expressly 
describes  the  reconstruction  of  the  church.  Raoul,  as  shown  above, 
tells  how  the  news  of  the  destruction  was  received.  All  the  Arabic 
historians  record  the  event. 


ROBERT  OF  ORLEANS.  143 

same  transaction  and  of  the  causes  which  led  to  it  we 
are  indebted  to  Raoul  the  Bald  (Glaber),  who  describes 
the  excitement  produced  in  Europe  by  this  act.  '  In 
the  year  1009,'  he  says,  though  his  date  appears  to  be 
wrong  by  one  year,  '  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  was 
entirely  destroyed  by  order  of  the  Prince  of  Babylon. 
.  .  .  The  devil  put  it  into  the  heads  of  the  Jews  to 
whisper  calumnies  about  the  servants  of  the  true 
religion.  There  were  a  considerable  number  of  Jews 
in  Orleans,  prouder,  more  envious,  and  more  audacious 
than  the  rest  of  their  nation.  They  suborned  a  vaga- 
bond monk  named  Robert,  and  sent  him  with  secret 
letters,  written  in  the  Hebrew  character,  and  for  better 
preservation  enclosed  in  a  stick,  to  the  prince  of 
Babylon.  Therein  they  told  how,  if  the  Prince  did 
not  make  haste  to  destroy  the  shrine  at  which 
the  Christians  worshipped,  they  would  speedily  take 
possession  of  his  kingdom  and  deprive  him  of  his 
honours.  On  reading  the  letter,  the  prince  fell  into 
fury,  and  sent  to  Jerusalem  soldiers  charged  with  the 
order  to  destroy  the  church  from  roof  to  foundation. 
This  order  was  but  too  well  executed  ;  and  his  satellites 
even  tried  to  break  the  interior  of  the  Sacred  Sepulchre 
with  their  iron  hammers,  but  all  their  efforts  were  use- 
less. ...  A  short  time  after,  it  was  known  beyond  a 
doubt  that  the  calamity  must  be  imputed  to  the  Jews, 
and  when  their  secret  was  divulged,  all  Christendom 
resolved  with  one  accord  to  drive  out  the  Jews  from 
their  territory  to  the  very  last.  They  became  thus  the 
object  of  universal  execration.  Some  were  driven  out, 
some  massacred  by  the  sword,  some  thrown  into  the 
sea,  or  given  up  to  different  kinds  of  punishment. 
Others  devoted  themselves  to  voluntary  deaths  :  so 
that,   after  the  just  vengeance   executed   upon    them, 


144  JERUSALEM 

very  few  could  be  seen  in  the  Roman  world.  .  .  .  These 
examples  of  justice  were  not  calculated  to  inspire  a 
feeling  of  security  in  the  mind  of  Robert  when  he  came 
back.  He  began  by  looking  for  his  accomplices,  of 
whom  there  were  still  a  small  number  in  Orleans ;  with 
them  he  lived  familiarly.  But  he  was  denounced  by  a 
stranger,  who  had  made  the  journey  with  him,  and 
knew  perfectly  well  the  object  of  his  mission.  He  is 
seized,  scourged,  and  confesses  his  crime.  The  ministers 
of  the  king  take  him  without  the  city,  and  there,  in  the 
sight  of  all  the  people,  commit  him  to  the  flames. 
Nevertheless,  the  fugitive  Jews  began  to  reappear  in  the 
cities,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that,  because  some  must 
always  exist  as  a  living  testimony  to  their  shame,  and 
the  crime  by  which  they  shed  the  blood  of  Christ,  God 
permitted  the  animosity  of  the  Christians  to  subside. 
However  that  may  be  by  the  divine  will,  Maria,  mother 
of  the  Emir,  Prince  of  Babylon,  a  very  Christian 
princess,  ordered  the  church  to  be  rebuilt  with  square 

and  polished  stones  the  same  year And  there 

might  have  been  seen  an  innumerable  crowd  of 
Christians  running  in  triumph  to  Jerusalem  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  contending  with  one  another 
in  their  offerings  for  the  restoration  of  the  house  of 
God.' 

It  was  an  unlucky  day  for  the  Jews  when  Robert 
went  on  his  embassy,  whatever  that  was,  to  the  East. 
But  a  renewal  of  the  religious  spirit  in  the  West  was 
always  attended  by  a  persecution  of  the  Jews.  No 
story  was  too  incredible  to  be  believed  of  them,  no 
violence  and  cruelty  too  much  for  them.  When  the 
Crusades  began,  almost  the  first  to  suffer  were  the  hap- 
less Jews,  and  we  know  how  miserable  was  their 
situation  as  long  as  the  Crusading  spirit  lasted.     Even 


FULKE  THE  BLACK.  145 

when  this  was  dying  out,  when  the  Christians  and  the 
Saracens  were  often  firm  friends,  the  Jews  alone  shared 
none  of  the  benefits  of  toleration.  To  be  a  descendant 
of  that  race  by  whom  Christ  was  crucified,  was  to  be 
subjected  to  the  very  wantonness  of  cruelty  and  perse- 
cution. 

One  of  the  principal  sights  in  Jerusalem  then,  as  now, 
though  the  Latins  have  long  since  given  it  up,  was  the 
yearly  appearance  of  the  holy  fire.  Odolric  was  witness, 
not  only  of  this,  but  of  another  and  a  more  unusual 
miracle.  For  while  the  people  were  all  waiting  for  the 
fire  to  appear,  a  Saracen  began  to  chant  in  mockery  the 
Kyrie  Eleison,  and  snatching  a  taper  from  one  of  the 
pilgrims,  he  ran  away  with  it.  '  But  immediately,' 
says  Raoul,  '  he  was  seized  by  the  devil,  and  began  to 
suffer  unimaginable  torments.  The  Christian  who  had 
been  robbed  regained  his  taper,  and  the  Saracen  died 
immediately  after  in  the  arms  of  his  friends.'  This 
example  inspired  a  just  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the 
infidels,  and  was  for  the  Christians  a  great  subject  of 
rejoicing.  And  at  that  very  moment  the  holy  fire  burst 
out  from  one  of  the  same  lamps,  and  ran  from  one  to 
the  other.  Bishop  Odolric  bought  the  lamp  which 
was  first  lit  for  a  pound  of  gold,  and  hung  it  up  in  his 
church  at  Orleans,  '  where  it  cured  an  infinite  number 
of  sick.' 

One  can  easily  understand  the  growth  of  stories  such 
as  that  of  the  stricken  Saracen.  An  age  like  the  tenth 
was  little  disposed  to  question  the  truth  of  a  miracle 
which  proved  their  faith.  Nor  was  it  likely  to  set 
against  the  one  Saracen  who  died  in  torture  after 
insulting  the  Cross  the  tens  of  thousands  who  insulted  it 
with  impunity.  The  series  of  miracles  related  by  Raoul 
and  others  are  told  in  perfect  good  faith,  and  believed 

10 


146  JERUSALEM. 


by  those  to  whom  they  were  related  as  simply  as  they 
were  believed  by  those  who  told  them.  And  we  can 
very  well  understand  how  they  helped,  in  a  time  when 
hardly  any  other  thing  would  have  so  helped,  to 
maintain  the  faith  of  a  people,  coarse,  rough,  unlettered, 
and  imaginative. 

The  destruction  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
the  stories  spread  abroad  about  the  miraculous  preser- 
vation of  the  cave,  and  its  rebuilding  in  ioio,  all  served 
to  increase  the  ardour  of  pilgrims.  And  there  had  been 
another  cause  already  mentioned.  Throughout  western 
Christendom  a  whisper  ran  that  the  end  of  the  world 
was  approaching.  A  thousand  years  had  nearly  elapsed 
since  the  Church  of  Christ  was  founded.  The  second 
advent  of  the  founder  was  to  happen  when  this  period 
was  accomplished :  the  advent  was  to  take  place  in 
Palestine ;  happy  those  who  could  be  present  to 
welcome  their  Lord.  Therefore,  of  all  conditions  and 
ranks  in  life,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  an  innumer- 
able multitude  of  pilgrims  thronged  to  Jerusalem.  And 
so  deep  was  the  feeling  that  the  end  of  all  things  was 
at  hand,  that  legal  documents  were  drawn  up  begin- 
ning with  the  words,  '  Appropinquante  etenim  mundi 
termino  et  ruinis  crebrescentibus  jam  certa  signa 
manifestantur,  pertimescens  tremendi  judicii  diem.' 
Among  the  best  known  pilgrims  of  the  last  century 
before  the  Crusades  is  Fulke  the  Black,  Count  of 
Anjou.  He  was  accused,  and  justly,  of  numerous  acts 
of  violence.  But  he  had  also  violated  the  sanctity  of  a 
church,  and  for  this  pardon  was  difficult  to  obtain. 
Troubled  with  phantoms  which  appeared  to  him  by 
night,  the  offspring  of  his  own  disordered  conscience, 
Fulke  resolved  to  expiate  his  sins  by  a  pilgrimage. 
After  being  nearly  shipwrecked  on  his  voyage  to  Syria 


FULKE  THE  BLACK.  147 

— the  tempest  appeared  to  him  a  special  mark  of  God's 
displeasure — he  arrived  safely  in  Jerusalem,  and  caused 
himself  to  be  scourged  through  the  streets,  crying 
aloud,  '  Lord,  have  mercy  on  a  faithless  and  perjured 
Christian  ;  on  a  sinner  wandering  far  from  his  own 
country.'  By  a  pious  fraud  he  obtained  admission  to 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre :  and  we  are  told 
that,  while  praying  at  the  tomb,  the  stone  miraculously 
became  soft  to  his  teeth,  and  he  bit  off  a  portion  of  it 
and  brought  it  triumphantly  away.  Returned  to  his 
own  country,  Fulke  built  a  church  at  Loches  in  imita- 
tion of  that  at  Jerusalem.  Tormented  still  by  his 
conscience,  he  went  a  second  time  as  a  pilgrim  to 
Palestine,  and  returning  safely  again,  he  occupied  himself 
for  many  years  in  building  monasteries  and  churches. 
But  he  could  not  rest  in  quiet,  and  resolved  for  the 
good  of  his  soul  to  make  a  third  pilgrimage.  This  he 
did,  but  died  on  his  way  home  at  Metz.  A  very 
different  pilgrim  was  Raymond  of  Plaisance.  Born  of 
poor  parents,  and  himself  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker, 
Raymond's  mind  was  distracted  from  the  earliest  age 
by  the  desire  to  see  Palestine.  He  disguised  his  anxiety 
for  a  time,  but  it  became  too  strong  for  him,  and  he 
fell  ill  and  confessed  his  thoughts  to  his  mother.  She, 
a  widow,  resolved  to  accompany  him,  and  they  set  off 
together.  They  arrived  safely  at  Jerusalem,  and  wept 
before  the  sepulchre,  conceiving,  we  are  told,  a  lively 
desire  to  end  their  days  there  and  then.  This  was  not 
to  be,  however.  They  went  on  to  Bethlehem,  thence 
to  Jerusalem  again,  and  thence  homewards.  On  board 
the  ship  Raymond  was  seized  with  an  illness,  and 
the  sailors  wanted  to  throw  him  overboard,  thinking, 
according  to  the  usual  sailors'  superstition,  that  a 
sick  man  would  bring  disaster.     His  mother,  however, 

10 — 2 


48  JERUSALEM. 


dissuaded  them,  and  he  quickly  recovered.  But  the 
mother  died  herself  shortly  after  landing  in  Italy,  and 
Raymond  went  on  alone.  He  was  met  at  Plaisance  by 
a  procession  of  clergy  and  choristers,  and  led  to  the 
cathedral,  where  he  deposited  his  palm-branch,  sign  of 
successful  pilgrimage,  and  then  returned  to  his  shoe- 
making,  married,  and  lived  to  a  good  old  age — doubt- 
less telling  over  and  over  again  the  stories  of  his 
travels. 

And  now  began  those  vast  pilgrimages  when 
thousands  went  together,  '  the  armies  of  the  Lord,'  the 
real  precursors  of  the  Crusades.  Robert  of  Normandy 
(a.d.  1034),  like  Fulke  the  Black,  anxious  to  wipe  out  his 
sins,  went  accompanied  by  a  great  number  of  barons 
and  knights,  all  barefooted,  all  clothed  with  the 
penitential  sackcloth,  all  bearing  the  staff  and  purse. 
They  went  by  Constantinople  and  through  Asia  Minor. 
There  Robert  was  seized  with  an  illness,  and  being 
unable  to  walk,  was  borne  in  a  litter  by  Saracens. 
'  Tell  my  people,'  said  the  duke, '  that  you  have  seen  me 
borne  to  Paradise  by  devils  ;'  a  speech  which  shows 
how  far  toleration  had  spread  in  those  days.  Robert 
found  a  large  number  of  pilgrims  outside  the  city  unable 
to  pay  the  entrance-money.  He  paid  for  all,  and  after 
signalizing  himself  by  numerous  acts  of  charity  he 
returned,  dying  on  the  way  in  Bithynia,  regretting 
only  that  he  had  not  died  sooner,  at  the  sacred  shrine 
itself. 

To  die  there,  indeed,  was,  as  we  have  seen  in  the 
case  of  Raymond,  a  common  prayer.  The  form  of 
words  is  preserved  :  '  Thou  who  hast  died  for  us,  and 
art  buried  in  this  sacred  place,  take  pity  on  our  misery, 
and  withdraw  us  from  this  vale  of  tears.'  And  the 
Christians  preserved  the  story  of  one  Lethbald,  whose 


LIETBERT.  149 


prayer  was  actually  answered,  for  he  died  suddenly  in 
the  sight  of  his  companions,  after  crying  out  three 
times  aloud,  '  Glory  to  thee,  O  God  !' 

Sometimes,  but  seldom,  a  sort  of  missionary  spirit 
would  seize  a  pilgrim,  and  he  would  try  to  convert  the 
infidels.  Thus  Saint  Macarius  of  Armenia,  Bishop  of 
Antioch,  learned  Arabic  and  Hebrew,  and  going  to 
Jerusalem,  began  to  preach  to  the  Jews  and  Saracens. 
Of  course  he  was  beaten  and  thrown  into  prison.  And 
we  need  not  record  the  miracles  that  happened  to  him 
therein. 

Richard,  Abbot  of  Saint  Vitou,  left  Normandy  at 
the  head  of  seven  hundred  pilgrims,  with  whom  was 
Saint  Gervinus.  There  are  accounts  preserved  of  this 
pilgrimage,  which  offers  little  of  interest  except  the 
miracles  which  were  wrought  for  Richard. 

Lietbert,  in  1054,  Bishop  of  Cambray,  headed  a  band 
no  fewer  than  three  thousand.  They  followed  the  road 
which  the  Crusaders  were  afterwards  to  take,  through 
Hungary  and  Bulgaria.  Here  many  of  his  men  were 
disheartened  and  wished  to  return,  but  he  persuaded 
them  to  go  on.  They  passed  into  Asia  Minor,  but  only 
got  as  far  as  Laodicea,  where  they  heard  that  the 
Church  of  the  Sepulchre  was  finally  closed  to  Chris- 
tians. Most  of  the  pilgrims  set  off  on  their  way 
home.  Lietbert  persevered,  and  embarked  with  a  few 
for  Jaffa.  They  were  shipwrecked  on  the  isle  of 
Cyprus.  Again  they  took  ship  for  Jaffa,  and  again 
they  failed,  being  landed  again  at  Laodicea.  After 
so  many  disappointments,  Lietbert  lost  courage,  and 
went  home  again  without  accomplishing  his  pil- 
grimage. 

The  most  important  of  all  the  pilgrimages,  however, 
was  that  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  accompanied 


150  JERUSALEM. 


by  the  Bishops  of  Utrecht,  Ramberg,  and  Ratisbon, 
and  by  seven  thousand  pilgrims  of  every  rank.  They 
were  not  dressed,  as  was  the  wont  of  pilgrims,  in  sack- 
cloth, but  wore  their  most  costly  robes  ;  the  bishops 
in  dress  of  state  and  cloth  of  gold,  the  knights  with 
burnished  arms  and  costly  trappings. 

The  army,  for  an  army  it  was,  too  well  equipped  to 
escape  without  attack,  too  small  to  insure  victory  in 
case  of  attack,  followed  the  usual  route  across  Asia 
Minor  from  Constantinople.  It  was  not,  however,  till 
they  were  near  Ramleh,  almost  within  sight  of  Jeru- 
salem, that  the  pilgrims  were  actually  attacked,  and 
then  not  by  the  Saracens,  but  by  a  large  troop  of  Arabs, 
whom  they  attempted  at  first  to  repel  by  blows  with 
their  fists.  Many  were  wounded,  including  the  Bishop 
of  Utrecht.  They  drove  off  the  enemy  for  the  moment 
with  stones,  and  retired  to  a  ruined  fort,  which  was 
fortunately  near  the  spot,  where  they  cowered  behind 
the  falling  walls.  The  Arabs  came  on  with  shrill  cries  ; 
the  Christians,  nearly  unarmed,  rushed  out  and  tore 
their  swords  and  bucklers  from  them.  But  they  were 
obliged  to  fall  back,  and  the  Arabs,  getting  reinforced, 
encamped  round  the  fort  to  the  number  of  twelve 
thousand,  and  resolved  to  starve  out  the  enemy. 

The  Christians  held  a  hasty  council.  '  Let  us,'  urged 
a  priest,  *  sacrifice  our  gold,  which  is  all  that  the  infidels 
want ;  having  that,  they  will  let  us  go  free.'  This 
advice  was  adopted,  and  on  a  parley  being  held,  the 
chief  of  the  Arabs,  with  a  small  body  of  seventeen  men, 
consented  to  enter  the  fort  and  come  to  terms.  The 
Bishop  of  Mayence,  who  was  the  stateliest  and  hand- 
somest man  among  the  Christians,  was  chosen  to  speak 
with  him.  He  proposed,  in  return  for  freedom  and 
safety,  to  hand  over  to  the  Arabs  all  the  treasure  in  the 


THE  BISHOPS'  PIL  GRIM  A  GE.  i !  i 


hands  of  the  Christians.  '  It  is  not  for  you,'  replied 
the  Arab,  '  to  make  terms  with  your  conquerors  !'  And 
taking  off  his  turban,  as  we  are  told,  as  a  modern 
Bedawi  would  do  with  his  head-dress  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances, he  threw  it,  like  a  halter,  round  the  neck 
of  the  bishop.  The  Christian  prelate  was  not  pre- 
pared for  a  reception  so  rude,  and  fairly  knocked  him 
down  with  a  blow  from  his  fist,  upon  which  the 
knights  set  upon  the  whole  eighteen  Arabs,  and  bound 
them  tightly.  The  news  of  the  detention  of  their  chief 
quickly  spreading  outside,  the  Arab  army  commenced 
a  furious  attack,  which  would  have  been  fatal  to  the 
Christians  but  for  a  stratagem  which  procured  them 
some  little  delay.  For  the  Christians,  holding  swords 
to  the  throats  of  their  prisoners,  promised  to  use  their 
heads  as  missiles  if  the  attack  were  continued  ;  and  the 
chieftain's  son,  in  alarm  for  his  father,  hastened  from 
rank  to  rank,  imploring  the  men  to  desist.  And  at  this 
juncture  arrived  the  Emir  of  Ramleh  with  troops,  at 
sight  of  whom  the  Arabs  turned  and  fled.  The  Arab 
chieftain  remained  a  prisoner.  '  You  have  delivered 
us,'  said  the  emir,  '  from  our  greatest  enemies.'  And 
so,  with  congratulations,  and  in  friendship,  they 
marched  to  Jerusalem,  which  they  entered  in  a  kind 
of  triumph  by  torchlight,  with  the  sound  of  cymbals 
and  trumpets.  They  were  received  by  the  Patriarch 
Sophronimus,  and  made  the  round,  next  day,  of  the 
sacred  places,  still  bearing  the  marks  of  the  destruction 
wrought  by  Hakem  fifty  years  before. 

And  now  approached  the  period  of  the  first  Crusade. 
All  these  pilgrimages  were  like  preparatory  and  ten- 
tative expeditions ;  the  final  provocations  were  yet  to 
come  which  should  rouse  the  Christians  to  unanimous 
action. 


152  JERUSALEM. 

In  the  year  1077  the  city  had  been  taken,  after  hold- 
ing out  till  the  defenders  were  in  danger  of  starvation, 
by  Atsiz  the  Kharesmian,  and  transferred  from  the 
Fatemite  Caliph  of  Egypt  to  the  Abbasside  Khalif. 
After  the  defeat  of  Atsiz  at  Gaza,  a  rebellion  was 
attempted  in  Jerusalem,  which  resulted  in  the  massacre 
of  three  thousand  of  the  people.  Atsiz  called  in 
Tutush,  brother  of  Melek  Shah,  to  his  assistance. 
Tutush  came,  but  instead  of  helping  Atsiz,  he  arrested 
and  executed  him,  and  proceeded  to  make  himself 
master  of  Syria.  A  Turk,  named  Ostok,  was  made 
Governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  fresh  persecutions  began 
for  the  Christians.  The  Turks  had  now  conquered  the 
whole  of  Asia  Minor.  Too  few  in  number  to  occupy 
the  whole  country,  they  held  the  towns  by  garrison,  the 
effeminate  Greeks  having  fallen  an  easy  prey  to  them. 
But  before  this  event,  the  Emperor  Michael  Ducas, 
foreseeing  the  conquest  of  his  country  unless  the 
Mohammedans  were  driven  back,  had  written  to  Pope 
Gregory  VIII.,  imploring  the  assistance  of  the  Western 
Christians,  and  offering  to  throw  down  the  barriers 
which  separated  the  two  Churches.  Gregory  quickly 
matured  a  complete  plan  of  united  action  on  the  part 
of  all  the  Christians.  The  price  of  the  assistance 
of  Western  Europe  was  to  be  the  submission  of  the 
Eastern  Church.  The  conquest  of  Palestine  was  to  be 
the  triumph  of  Rome.  Gerbert  had  entertained  a 
similar  dream  ;  but  Gregory  did  more  than  dream. 
He  exhorted  the  Christians  to  unite  in  the  Holy  War, 
and  obtained  fifty  thousand  promises  :  he  was  himself 
to  head  the  Crusade.  But  other  schemes  intervened, 
and  Gregory  died  without  doing  anything. 

Victor  III.  did  more  than  Gregory  :  he  not  only  ex- 
horted, but  persuaded.     The  Tuscans,  Venetians,  and 


BEFORE  THE  CRUSADES.  153 

Genoese  fitted  out  a  fleet,  fully  manned  and  equipped, 
and  sent  it  against  the  Mohammedans,  who  were  now 
impeding  the  navigation  of  the  Mediterranean.  A  signal 
triumph  was  obtained,  and  the  conquerors  returned 
laden  with  spoils  from  the  towns  they  had  captured  and 
burned.  This  was  the  first  united  effort  of  the 
Christians  against  the  Saracens,  and  perhaps  the  most 
successful  of  any. 

All,  then,  was  ripe  for  the  Crusade.  The  sword  had 
been  already  drawn ;  the  idea  was  not  a  new  one  ; 
letters,  imploring  help,  had  been  received  from  the 
Emperor  of  the  Greeks ;  three  popes  had  preached  a 
holy  war ;  the  sufferings  of  the  Christians  went  on 
increasing.  Moreover,  the  wickedness  of  the  Western 
Church  was  very  great.  William  of  Tyre  declares  that 
virtue  and  piety  were  obliged  to  hide  themselves  ; 
there  was  no  longer  any  charity,  any  reverence  for 
rank,  any  hesitation  at  plunging  whole  countries  in 
war ;  there  was  no  longer  any  security  for  property ; 
the  monasteries  themselves  were  not  safe  against 
robbers ;  the  very  churches  were  pillaged  and  the 
sacred  vessels  stolen ;  the  right  of  sanctuary  was 
violated  ;  the  highways  were  covered  with  armed 
brigands  ;  chastity,  economy,  temperance  were  regarded 
as  things  '  stupid  and  worthless  ;'  the  bishops  were  as 
dumb  dogs  who  could  not  bark ;  and  the  priests  were 
no  better  than  the  people. 

The  description  of  William  of  Tyre  is  vague,  though 
heavily  charged  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
times  were  exceptionally  evil.  Crimes  common  enough 
in  an  age  distinguished  above  all  by  absence  of  self- 
restraint  and  abandonment  to  unbridled  rage,  would  be 
naturally  magnified  by  an  historian  who  saw  in  them  a 
reason  for  the  infidel's  persecution  of  pilgrims,  and  an 


i54  JERUSALEM. 


argument  for  the  taking  of  the  Cross.  Yet,  making 
allowance  for  every  kind  of  exaggeration,  it  is  clear 
enough  that  Gregory  had  great  mischiefs  to  contend 
with,  and  that  the  awakening  of  the  world's  conscience 
by  any  means  whatever  could  not  but  produce  a 
salutary  effect.  The  immediate  effect  of  the  Crusades 
was  the  substitution  of  higher  for  lower  motives,  the 
sudden  cessation  of  war,  the  shaming  of  the  clergy  into 
something  like  purity  of  life,  the  absorption  into  the 
armies  of  the  Cross  of  the  '  men  of  violence,'  and 
some  temporary  alleviation  to  the  sufferings  of  the 
poor. 

The  hour  and  the  man  were  both  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    FIRST    CRUSADE. 

'The  sound 
As  of  the  assault  of  an  imperial  city, 
The  shock  of  crags  shot  from  strange  engin'ry, 
The  clash  of  wheels,  and  clang  of  armed  hoofs, 
*       *      *       and  now  more  loud 
The  mingled  battle-cry.     Ha  !  hear  I  not 
'Ev  tovtw  v'iki).     Allah-illah-AUah  !' 

Shelley. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  the  preacher  and  main  cause  of 
the  first  Crusade,  was  born  about  the  year  1050,  of  a 
noble  family  of  Picardy.  He  was  at  first,  like  all  men  of 
gentle  birth  of  his  time,  a  soldier,  and  fought  in  some  at 
least  of  the  wars  that  were  going  on  around  him.  For 
some  cause — no  one  knows  why — perhaps  disgusted 
with  the  world,  perhaps  struck  with  repentance  for  a 
criminal  or  dissolute  life — he  withdrew  from  his  fellow- 
men,  and  became  a  hermit.  But  it  would  seem  that 
his  turbulent  and  unquiet  spirit  could  not  stand  the 
monotony,  though  it  might  support  the  austerities,  of  a 
hermit's  life,  and  he  resolved  about  the  year  1093  to 
go  as  a  pilgrim  to  Palestine.  He  found  the  pilgrims 
miserable  indeed.  As  most  of  them  had  been  robbed 
or  exorbitantly  charged  on  the  road,  there  was  not  one 
in  a  hundred  who,  on  arrriving  before  Jerusalem,  found 
himself  able  to  pay  the  fee  demanded  for  admittance 
within  the  gates.     The  hapless  Christians,  starving  and 


156  JERUSALEM. 


helpless,  lay  outside  the  walls,  dependent  on  the  small 
supplies  which  their  brethren  within  could  send  them. 
Many  of  them  died ;  many  more  turned  away  without 
having  been  able  to  enter  the  city;  famine,  thirst,  naked- 
ness, and  the  sword  of  the  infidel  constantly  thinned 
their  ranks,  which  were  as  constantly  renewed.  Even 
if  they  got  within  the  walls,  they  were  not  much  safer  : 
the  monasteries  could  do  little  for  them,  though  they 
did  what  they  could ;  in  the  streets  they  were  insulted, 
mocked,  spat  upon,  and  sometimes  beaten.  And  in  the 
very  churches,  and  during  the  celebration  of  services, 
they  were  liable,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  attacks  of  a 
fanatic  crowd,  who  would  sometimes  break  in  upon 
them,  and  outrage  the  most  sacred  ceremonies. 

Among  all  the  indignant  and  pious  crowd  of  wor- 
shippers none  was  more  indignant  or  more  devout  than 
Peter.  He  paid  a  visit  to  Simeon,  the  aged  patriarch, 
and  wept  with  him  over  the  misfortunes  of  the 
Christians.  *  When,'  said  Simeon,  'the  cup  of  our 
sufferings  is  full,  God  will  send  the  Christians  of  the 
West  to  the  help  of  the  Holy  City.'  Peter  pressed  him 
to  write  urgent  letters  to  the  sovereign  powers  of 
Europe :  he  himself  promised  to  exhort  the  people  to 
arm  for  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem  and  to  testify  to  the 
statements  of  Simeon. 

And  then,  to  the  fiery  imagination  of  the  Hermit, 
strange  voices  began  to  whisper,  and  strange  forms 
began  to  be  seen.  '  Arise,  Peter,'  cried  our  Lord  Him- 
self to  him,  when  he  was  worshipping  at  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  'Arise,  Peter.  Hasten  to  announce  the 
tribulations  of  My  people.  It  is  time  that  My  servants 
were  succoured  and  My  sacred  places  delivered.'  Peter 
arose  and  departed  to  obey  what  he  believed  to  be  a 
divine  command.     The  Pope  Urban,  who  certainly  saw 


PETER  THE  HERMIT.  157 

in  this  an  opportunity  for  strengthening  himself  against 
the    anti-pope,    received    him    with    ardour,    real    or 
assumed,  and   authorized  him  to  preach  the  Crusade 
over  the  whole  of  Europe.     He  crossed  the  Alps,  and 
began  first  to  preach  in  France.     His  appearance  was 
mean  and  unprepossessing,  his  stature  low;  he  rode  on 
a  mule,  bare-headed  and  bare-footed,  dressed  in  a  gown 
of  coarsest  stuff  and  with  a  long  rope  for  a  girdle.    The 
fame  of  his  austerity,  the  purity  of  his  life,  the  great 
purpose  he  had  on  hand,  went  before  him.     The  irre- 
sistible eloquence  of  his  words  moved  to  their  deepest 
depths   the   hearts    of  the    people.       He   preached    in 
country  and  in  town ;  on  the  public  roads  and  in  the 
pulpits  of  churches  ;    he  reminded  his  hearers  of  the 
profanation    of    the    holy   places ;    he    spoke    of    the 
pilgrims,  and  narrated  his  own  sufferings  ;  he  read  the 
letters   of  the  venerable   Simeon  ;    and  finally  he  told 
them  how  from  the  very  recesses  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
the  voice  of  Jesus  Himself  had  called  aloud  to  him, 
bidding  him  go  forth  and  summon  the  people  to  the 
recovery  of  Jerusalem.     And  as  he  spoke,  the  souls  of 
those  that  heard  were  moved.     With  tears,  with  re- 
pentant sobs,  with  loud  cries  of  anger  and  sorrow,  they 
vowed  to  lead  better  lives,  and  dedicated  themselves 
for  the  future  to  the  service  of  God  ;  women  who  had 
sinned,  men  who  had  led  women  astray,  robbers  who 
lived  by  plunder,  murderers  rich  with  the  rewards  of 
crime,  priests  burdened  with  the  heavy  guilt  of  long 
years  of  hypocrisy — all  came  alike  to  confess  their  sins, 
to  vow  amendment,  to  promise  penance  by  taking  the 
Cross.     Peter  was  reverenced  as  a  saint :  such  homage 
as  never  man  had  before  was  his ;  they  tried  to  get  the 
smallest  rag  of  his  garment ;  they  crowded  to  look  upon 
him,  or,  if  it  might  be,  to  touch  him.     Never  in  the 


158  JERUSALEM. 


history  of  the  world  has  eloquent  man  had  such  an 
audience,  or  has  oratory  produced  such  an  effect.  And 
in  the  midst  of  this  agitation,  confined  as  yet,  be  it 
observed,  to  France,  whose  soil  has  ever  been  favour- 
able to  the  birth  of  new  ideas,  came  letters  from  the 
Emperor  Alexis  Comnenus,  urging  on  the  princes  of  the 
West  the  duty  of  coming  to  his  help.  The  leader  of  the 
infidels  was  at  his  very  gates.  Were  Constantinople  to 
fall,  Christendom  itself  might  fall.  He  might  survive 
the  loss  of  his  empire  :  he  could  never  survive  the 
shame  of  seeing  it  pass  under  the  laws  of  Mohammed. 
And  if  more  were  wanted  to  urge  on  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  people,  Constantinople  was  rich  beyond  all  other 
cities  of  the  world  ;  her  riches  should  be  freely  lavished 
upon  her  defenders  ;  her  daughters  were  fairer  than  the 
daughters  of  the  West ;  their  love  should  be  the  reward 
of  those  who  fought  against  the  Infidels. 

The  pope  received  the  letters,  and  held  a  council, 
first  at  Plaisance,then  at  Clermont  (1094).  His  speech  at 
the  latter  council  has  been  variously  given;  four  or  five 
reports  of  it  remain,  all  evidently  written  long  after  the 
real  speech  had  been  delivered  ;  all  meant  to  contain 
what  the  pope  ought  to  have  said  ;  and  all,  as  appears  to 
us,  singularly  cold  and  artificial.  The  council  began  by 
renewing  the  Peace  of  God  ;  by  placing  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Church  all  widows,  orphans,  merchants, 
and  labourers ;  by  proclaiming  the  inviolability  of  the 
sanctuary;  and  by  decreeing  that  crosses  erected  by 
the  wayside  should  be  a  refuge  against  violence.  And 
at  its  tenth  sitting,  the  council  passed  to  what  was  its 
real  business,  the  consideration  of  Peter's  exhortations 
and  the  reading  of  the  letters  of  the  Patriarch  Simeon 
and  the  Emperor  Alexis.  Peter  spoke  first,  narrating, 
as  usual,  the  sufferings  of  the  pilgrims.     Urban  followed 


PREPARATION.  159 


him.  And  when  he  had  finished,  with  one  accord  the 
voices  of  the  assembled  council  shouted, '  Dieu  le  veut ! 
Dieu  le  veut !'  '  Yes,'  answered  the  pontiff,  '  God  wills 
it,  indeed  !  Behold  how  our  Lord  fulfils  his  own 
words,  that  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  His  name  He  will  be  in  the  midst.  He  it  is  who  has 
inspired  these  words.  Let  them  be  for  you  your  only 
war-cry.'  Adhemar,  Bishop  of  Puy,  begged  to  be  the 
first  to  take  the  vow  of  the  Crusade.  Other  bishops 
followed.  Raymond,  Count  of  Toulouse,  first  of  the 
laity,  swore  to  conduct  his  men  to  Palestine,  and  then  the 
knights  and  barons  followed  in  rapid  succession.  Urban 
declined  himself  to  lead  the  host,  but  appointed  Bishop 
Adhemar  as  his  deputy.  Meantime  he  promised  all 
Crusaders  a  full  and  complete  remission  of  their 
sins.  He  promised  their  goods  and  their  families 
the  protection  of  Saint  Peter  and  the  Church  ;  he 
placed  under  anathema  all  who  should  do  violence  to 
the  soldiers  of  the  Cross ;  and  he  threatened  with 
excommunication  all  who  should  fail  to  perform  their 
oaths.  As  if  the  madness  of  enthusiasm  was  not 
sufficiently  kindled  already,  the  pope  himself  went  to 
Rouen,  to  Algiers,  to  Tours,  and  to  Nismes,  called 
councils,  harangued  the  people,  and  enjoined  on  the 
bishops  the  duty  of  proclaiming  the  Crusade  ;  and  the 
next  year  was  spent  in  preaching,  exhorting,  in  main- 
taining the  enthusiasm  already  kindled,  and  in  prepar- 
ing for  the  war.  The  kings  of  Europe,  for  their  part, 
had  good  reasons  for  holding  aloof,  and  so  took  no  part 
in  the  Crusade  :  the  King  of  France,  because  he  was 
under  excommunication ;  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
because  he  was  also  under  excommunication  ;  William 
Rufus,  because  he  was  an  unbeliever  and  a  scoffer. 
But  for  the  rank  and  file,  the  First  Crusade  which  was 


:6o  JERUSALEM. 


instigated  by  a  Frenchman  was  mainly  recruited  from 
France. 

Here,  indeed,  the  delirium  of  enthusiasm  grew  daily 
in  intensity.  During  the  winter  of  1095-96  nothing 
but  the  sound  of  preparation  was  heard  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  It  was  not  enough 
that  knights  and  men-at-arms  should  take  upon  them 
the  vows  of  the  Cross  ;  it  behoved  every  man  who 
could  carry  a  pike  or  wield  a  sword  to  join  the  army  of 
deliverance.  Artisans  left  their  work,  merchants  their 
shops,  labourers  their  tools,  and  the  very  robbers  and 
brigands  came  out  from  their  hiding-places,  with  the 
intention  of  atoning  for  their  past  sins  by  fighting  in 
the  army  of  the  Lord.  All  industry,  save  that  of  the 
forging  of  weapons,  ceased  ;  for  six  whole  months  there 
was  no  crime ;  for  six  months  an  uninterrupted  Peace 
of  God,  concluded  by  tacit  consent,  while  the  crois4s 
crowded  the  churches  to  implore  the  divine  protection 
and  blessing,  to  consecrate  their  arms,  and  to  renew 
their  vows.  In  order  to  procure  horses,  armour,  and 
arms,  the  price  of  which  went  up  enormously,  the 
knights  sold  their  lands  at  prices  far  below  their  real 
value ;  the  lands  were  in  many  cases  bought  up  by  far- 
seeing  abbots  and  attached  to  monasteries,  so  that  the 
Church,  at  least,  might  be  enriched,  whatever  happened. 
No  sacrifice,  however,  appeared  too  great  in  the  en- 
thusiasm of  departure  ;  no  loss  too  heavy  to  weigh  for 
one  moment  against  the  obligation  of  the  sacred  oath. 
And  strange  signs  and  wonders  began  to  appear  in  the 
heavens.  Stars  were  seen  to  fall  upon  the  earth  :  these 
were  the  kings  and  chiefs  of  the  Saracens  ;  unearthly 
flames  were  visible  at  night  :  these  betokened  the  con- 
flagration of  the  Mohammedan  strong  places  ;  blood- 
red    clouds,    stained   with    the   blood    of    the    Infidel, 


THE  FIRST  WAVE.  161 

hovered  over  the  east ;  a  sword-shaped  comet,  denot- 
ing the  sword  of  the  Lord,  was  in  the  south  ;  and  in 
the  sky  were  seen,  not  once,  but  many  times,  the 
towers  of  a  mighty  city  and  the  legions  of  a  mighty 
host. 

With  the  first  warm  days  of  early  spring  the  impa- 
tience of  the  people  was  no  longer  to  be  restrained.  Re- 
fusing to  wait  while  the  chiefs  of  the  Crusade  organized 
their  forces,  laid  down  the  line  of  their  march,  and 
matured  their  plans,  they  flocked  in  thousands  to  the 
banks  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Moselb,  clamouring  for 
immediate  departure.  Most  of  them  were  on  foot,  but 
those  who  by  any  means  could  raise  the  price  of  a  horse 
came  mounted.  Some  travelled  in  carts  drawn  by  oxen. 
Their  arms  were  such  as  they  could  afford  to  buy. 
Everyone,  however,  brandished  a  weapon  of  some  kind  ; 
it  was  either  a  spear,  or  an  axe,  or  sword,  or  even  a 
heavy  hammer.  Wives,  daughters,  children,  old  men, 
dragged  themselves  along  with  the  exultant  host, 
nothing  doubting  that  they,  too,  would  be  permitted  to 
share  the  triumph,  to  witness  the  victory.  From  the 
far  corners  of  France,  from  Brittany,  from  the  islands, 
from  the  Pyrenees,  came  troops  of  men  whose  language 
could  not  be  understood,  and  who  had  but  one  sign, 
that  of  the  Cross,  to  signify  their  brotherhood.  Whole 
villages  came  en  masse,  accompanied  by  their  priests, 
bringing  with  them  their  children,  their  cattle,  their 
stores  of  provisions,  their  household  utensils,  their  all  ; 
while  the  poorest  came  with  nothing  at  all,  trusting 
that  miracles,  similar  to  those  which  protected  the 
Israelites  in  the  desert,  would  protect  them  also — that 
manna  would  drop  from  heaven,  and  the  rocks  would 
open  to  supply  them  with  water.  And  such  was  their 
ignorance,  that  as  the  walls  of  town  after  town  became 

ii 


i62  JERUSALEM. 


visible  on  their  march,  they  pressed  forward,  eagerly 
demanding  if  that  was  Jerusalem. 

Who  should  be  the  leader  of  the  horde  of  peasants, 
robbers,  and  workmen  who  came  together  in  the  spring 
of  1096  on  the  banks  of  the  Meuse  ?  Among  all  this 
vast  host  there  were  found  but  nine  knights  :  Gaultier 
Sans  Avoir — Walter  the  Penniless — and  eight  others. 
But  there  was  with  them,  better  than  an  army  of 
knights,  the  great  preacher  of  the  Crusade,  the  holy 
hermit  and  worker  of  miracles,  Peter.  To  him  was  due 
the  glory  of  the  movement :  to  him  should  be  given 
the  honour  of  leading  the  first,  and,  it  was  believed, 
the  successful  army.  By  common  acclamation  they 
elected  Peter  their  leader.  He,  no  less  credulous  than 
his  followers,  accepted  the  charge  ;  confident  of  victory, 
and  mounted  on  his  mule — the  mule  which  had  borne 
him  from  town  to  town  to  preach  the  war — clothed  in 
his  monastic  garb,  with  sandals  on  his  feet  and  a  cross 
in  his  hand,  he  led  the  way. 

Under  his  command  were  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
bearing  arms,  such  as  they  were,  and  an  innumerable 
throng  of  women,  old  men,  and  children.  He  divided 
this  enormous  host  into  two  parts,  keeping  the  larger 
under  his  own  orders,  and  sending  on  the  smaller  as  an 
advance-guard,  under  the  knight  Walter. 

Walter  started  first.  Marching  down  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  he  experienced  no  difficulties  with  the 
Germans.  These,  slow  to  follow  the  example  of  the 
fiery  French,  and,  moreover,  not  yet  stimulated  by  the 
preaching  of  a  Peter,  still  sympathized  with  the  object 
of  the  army,  which  they  doubtless  thought  was  but  a 
larger  and  fiercer  band  of  pilgrims,  like  many  that  had 
gone  before,  and  assisted  those  who  were  too  poor  to 
buy  provisions,  to  the  best  of  their  power.     Passing, 


FIRST  TROUBLES.  163 


therefore,  safely  through  Germany,  the  disorderly  host, 
among  whom  all  sorts  of  iniquities  were  already  rife, 
entered  Hungary.  The  Hungarians,  by  this  time 
Christianized,  had  yet  no  kind  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
objects  of  the  Crusaders  or  desire  to  aid  them  ;  but 
their  King,  Coloman,  gave  them  guides  through  his 
vast  marshes  and  across  his  rivers,  and  permitted  them 
to  purchase  what  they  wanted  at  the  public  market- 
places ;  and  by  great  fortune  no  accident  happened  to 
them,  save  the  beating  of  a  few  laggards  after  the  cross- 
ing of  the  river  Maros.  Judging  it  idle  to  avenge  an 
insult  which  it  cost  little  to  endure,  Walter  pushed  on 
till  he  reached  Belgrade,  the  frontier  town  of  the  Bul- 
garians. These  were  even  a  ruder  people  than  the 
Hungarian  Christians  ;  they  refused  to  recognise  the 
Crusaders  as  their  brethren  :  although  nominal  sub- 
jects of  the  Greek  crown,  they  refused  any  submission 
but  that  which  was  extorted  by  arms,  and  living  in 
the  midst  of  inaccessible  forests,  they  preserved  a 
wild  and  savage  independence  which  made  them  the 
terror  of  the  pilgrims,  whom  they  maltreated,  and  of 
the  Greeks,  who  tried  to  reduce  them  to  submission. 

Here  the  first  troubles  began.  The  Governor  of 
Belgrade  refusing  them  permission  to  buy  provisions, 
the  army  found  themselves  reduced  to  the  greatest 
straits  for  want  of  food  ;  and  seeing  no  other  way  of 
help,  they  left  the  camp  and  dispersed  about  the 
country,  driving  in  the  cattle,  and  laying  hands  on 
everything  they  could  find.  The  Bulgarians  armed  in 
haste,  and  slaughtered  vast  numbers  of  marauders, 
burning  alive  a  hundred  and  forty  who  had  taken  refuge 
in  a  chapel.  Walter  broke  up  his  camp  in  haste,  and 
pressing  on,  left  those  to  their  own  fate  who  refused  to 
obey  his  order  to  follow.     What  that  fate  was   may 

11 — 2 


[64  JERUSALEM. 


easily  be  surmised.  With  diminished  forces,  starving 
and  dejected,  he  pushed  on  through  the  forests  till  he 
found  himself  before  Nissa,  when  the  governor,  taking 
pity  on  the  destitute  condition  of  the  pilgrims,  gave 
them  food,  clothes,  and  arms.  These  misfortunes  fell 
upon  them,  it  will  be  observed,  in  Christian  lands,  and 
long  before  they  saw  the  Saracens.  Thence  the 
humbled  Crusaders,  seeing  in  these  disasters  a  just 
punishment  for  their  sins — they  were  at  least  always 
ready  to  repent — proceeded,  with  no  other  enemy  than 
famine,  through  Philippopolis  and  Adrianople  to  Con- 
stantinople itself.  Here  the  emperor,  Alexis  Comnenus, 
gave  them  permission  to  encamp  outside  the  town,  to 
buy  and  sell,  and  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  Peter  and 
the  second  army. 

But  if  the  first  expedition  was  disastrous  the  second 
was  far  worse.  Peter  seemed  to  have  followed  at  first 
a  somewhat  different  route  to  that  of  his  advanced 
guard.  He  went  through  Lorraine,  Franconia,  Bavaria, 
and  Austria,  and  entered  Hungary,  some  months  after 
Walter,  with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men.  Permis- 
sion was  readily  granted  to  march  through  the  country, 
on  the  condition  of  the  maintenance  of  order  and  the 
purchase  of  provisions  ;  nor  was  it  till  they  arrived  at 
Semlin,  the  place  where  their  comrades  had  been 
beaten,  that  any  disturbance  arose.  Here  they  unfor- 
tunately saw  suspended  the  arms  and  armour  which 
had  been  stripped  from  the  stragglers  of  Walter's  army. 
The  soldiers,  incensed  beyond  control,  rushed  upon  the 
little  town,  and,  with  the  loss  of  a  hundred  men, 
massacred  every  Hungarian  in  the  place.  Then  they 
sat  down  to  enjoy  themselves  for  five  days.  The 
people  of  Belgrade,  panic-stricken  on  hearing  of  the 
fate  of  Semlin,  fled  all  with  one  accord,  headed  by  their 


THE  SECOND  WAVE.  165 

governor,  and  hurriedly  carrying  away  everything  port- 
able ;  and  Peter,  before  the  King  of  Hungary  had  time 
to  collect  an  army  to  avenge  the  taking  of  his  city, 
managed  to  transport  everything  to  the  other  side  of 
the  Danube,  and  pitched  his  camp  under  the  deserted 
walls  of  Belgrade.  There  the  army,  laden  with  spoils 
of  all  kinds,  waited  to  collect  their  treasures,  which 
they  carried  with  them  on  their  march  to  Nissa.  They 
stopped  here  one  night,  obtaining,  as  Walter  had  done, 
permission  to  buy  and  sell,  and  giving  hostages  for 
good  conduct.  All  went  well ;  the  camp  was  raised, 
the  hostages  returned,  and  the  army  on  its  march  again, 
when  an  unhappy  quarrel  arose  between  some  of  the 
stragglers,  consisting  of  about  a  hundred  Germans,  and 
the  townspeople.  The  Germans  set  fire  to  seven  mills 
and  certain  buildings  outside  the  town.  Having  done 
this  mischief  they  rejoined  their  comrades  ;  but  the 
indignant  Bulgarians,  furious  at  this  return  for  their 
hospitality,  rushed  after  them,  arms  in  hand.  They 
attacked  the  rear-guard,  killed  those  who  resisted, 
and  returned  to  the  town,  driving  before  them  the 
women  and  children,  and  loaded  with  the  spoil  which 
remained  from  the  sacking  of  Semlin.  Peter  and  the 
main  body  hastened  back  on  receiving  news  of  the 
disaster,  and  tried  once  more  to  accommodate  matters. 
But  in  the  midst  of  his  interview  with  the  governor, 
and  when  all  seemed  to  promise  well,  a  fresh  outbreak 
took  place,  and  a  second  battle  began,  far  worse  than 
the  first.  The  Crusaders  were  wholly 'routed  and  fled 
in  all  directions,  while  the  carnage  was  indiscriminate 
and  fearful.  In  the  evening  the  unhappy  Peter  found 
himself  on  an  adjoining  height  with  five  hundred  men. 
The  scattered  fugitives  gradually  rallied,  but  one-fourth 
of  his  fighting  men  were  killed  on  this  disastrous  day, 


1 66  JERUSALEM. 


and  the  army  lost  all  their  baggage,  their  treasures,  and 
their  stores  ;  while  of  the  women  and  children  by  far 
the  greater  number  were  either  killed  or  taken  captive. 
Starving  and  destitute,  they  straggled  on  through  the 
forests,  dreading  the  further  vengeance  of  the  Bul- 
garians, until  they  entered  Thrace.  Here  deputies 
from  the  emperor  met  them,  with  reproaches  for  their 
disorderly  conduct,  and  promises  that,  should  they 
conduct  themselves  with  order,  his  clemency  would  not 
be  wanting. 

Arrived  at  Constantinople,  and  having  rejoined 
Walter,  Peter  lost  no  time  in  obtaining  an  audience 
from  the  emperor.  Alexis  heard  him  patiently,  and 
was  even  moved  by  his  eloquence  ;  but  he  advised  him, 
above  all  things,  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  the  princes 
who  were  to  follow.  Advice  was  the  last  thing  these 
wild  hordes  would  listen  to  ;  and,  eager  to  be  in  the 
country  of  the  infidels — to  get  for  themselves  the  glory 
of  the  conquest — they  crossed  the  Dardanelles,  and 
pitched  their  camp  at  a  place  called  Gemlik  or  Ghio. 

The  first  effervescence  of  zeal  in  Europe  had  not  yet, 
however,  worked  off  its  violence.  A  monk  named 
Gotschalk,  emulating  the  honours  of  Peter,  had  raised, 
by  dint  of  preaching,  an  army  of  twenty  thousand 
Germans,  sworn  to  the  capture  of  the  Holy  Land. 
Setting  out  as  leader  of  this  band,  he  followed  the  same 
road  as  his  predecessors  and  met  with  the  same 
disasters.  It  was  in  early  autumn  that  they  passed 
through  Hungary.  The  harvest  was  beginning,  and 
the  Germans  pillaged  and  murdered  wherever  they 
went.  King  Coloman  attacked  them,  but  with  little 
success.  He  then  tried  deceit,  and,  persuading  the 
Germans  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  to  join  the 
Hungarians  as  brothers,  he  fell  on  them,  and  massacred 


VOLKMAR.  167 


every  one.  Of  all  this  vast  host  only  one  or  two  es- 
caped through  the  forests  to  their  own  country  to  tell 
the  tale. 

One  more  turbulent  band  followed,  to  meet  the  same 
fate  ;  but  this  was  the  worst — the  most  undisciplined  of 
all.  Headed  by  a  priest  named  Volkmar,  and  a  Count 
Emicon,  they  straggled  without  order  or  discipline, 
filled  with  the  wildest  superstitions.  Before  their  army 
was  led  sometimes  a  she-goat,  sometimes  a  goose, 
which  they  imagined  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  as  all  sins  were  to  be  expiated  by  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Land,  there  was  a  growing  belief  that  there 
was  no  longer  any  need  of  avoiding  sin.  Consequently, 
the  wildest  license  was  indulged  in,  and  this,  which 
called  itself  '  the  army  of  the  Lord,'  was  a  horde  of  the 
most  abandoned  criminals.  Their  greatest  crime  was 
the  slaughter  of  the  Jews  along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine 
and  Moselle.  '  Why,'  they  asked,  '  should  we,  who 
march  against  the  infidels,  leave  behind  us  the  enemies 
of  our  Lord  ?'  The  bishops  of  the  sees  through  which 
they  passed  vainly  interposed  their  entreaties.  In 
Cologne  and  Mayence  every  Jew  was  murdered  ;  some 
of  the  miserable  people  tied  stones  round  their  own 
necks,  and  leaped  into  the  river ;  some  killed  their 
wives  and  children  and  set  fire  to  their  houses,  perish- 
ing in  the  flames ;  the  mothers  killed  the  infants  at 
their  breasts,  and  the  Christians  themselves  fled  in  all 
directions  at  the  approach  of  an  army  as  terrible  to  its 
friends  as  to  its  foes. 

But  their  course  was  of  short  duration.  At  the  town 
of  Altenburg,  on  the  confines  of  Hungary,  which  they 
attempted  to  storm,  they  were  seized  with  a  sudden 
panic  and  fled  in  all  directions,  being  slaughtered  like 
sheep.     Emicon  got  together  a  small  band,  whom  he 


168  JERUSALEM. 


led  home  again ;  a  few  others  were  led  by  their  chiefs 
southwards,  and  joined  the  princes  of  the  Crusade  in 
Italy.     None  of  them,  according  to  William  of  Tyre, 
found  their  way  to  Peter  the  Hermit.     Once  across  the 
Dardanelles,  Peter's  troops,  who  amounted,  it  is  said,  in 
spite  of  all  their  losses,  to  no   fewer  than  a  hundred 
thousand  fighting  men,  fixed  a  camp  on  the  shores  of 
the  Gulf  of  Nicomedia,  and  began  to  ravage  the  country 
in  all  directions.    The  division  of  the  booty  soon  caused 
quarrels,    and    a   number    of    Italians    and    Germans, 
deserting  the  camp,  went  up  the  country  in  a  body, 
and  took  possession  of  a  small  fortress  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Nicaea,  whose  garrison  they  massacred. 
Then  they  were  in  their  turn  besieged,  and,  with  the 
exception  of   their  leader,   Renaud,   or   Rinaldo,  who 
embraced    the    Mohammedan  faith,   were  slaughtered 
to    a    man.     The    news    of    this    disaster   roused    the 
Christians,  not  to  a  sense  of  their  danger  (which  they 
could  not  yet  comprehend),  but  to  a  vehement  desire 
for    revenge.      They  made   the  luckless  Walter   lead 
them  against  Nicaea,  and  issued  forth  from  their  camp 
en  masse,  a  disordered,  shouting  multitude,  crying  for 
vengeance  against  the  Turks.     But  their  end  was  at 
hand.     The   Sultan  of  Nicaea  placed  half  his  army  in 
ambuscade  in  the  forest,  keeping  the  other  half  in  the 
plain  ;  the  Christians  were  attacked  in  the  front  and 
in   the  rear,    and,    cooped    up   together  in  confusion, 
badly   armed,    offered  very  slight  resistance.     Walter 
himself  fell,  one  of  the  first ;  the  carnage  was  terrific, 
and  of  all  the   hundred   thousand   whom  Peter   and 
Walter  had  brought  across  the  Dardanelles,  but  three 
thousand  escaped.     These  fled  to  a  fortress  by  the  sea- 
shore.    The  bones  of  their  comrades,  whitened  by  the 
eastern  sun,  long  stood  as  a  monument  of  the  disaster, 


ROUT  AND  MASSACRE.  169 


pointing  skeleton  fingers  on  the  road  to  Jerusalem — the 
road  of  death  and  defeat. 

Only  three  thousand,  out  of  all  these  hordes,  certainly 
a  quarter  of  a  million  in  number,  which  flocked  after 
Peter  on  his  mule  !  We  can  hardly  believe  that  all  were 
killed.  Some  of  the  women  and  children  at  least  might 
be  spared,  and  without  doubt  their  blood  yet  flows  in 
the  veins  of  many  Hungarian  and  Bulgarian  families. 
But  this  was  only  the  first  instalment  of  slaughter. 
There  remained  the  mighty  armies  which  were  even 
then  upon  the  road.  As  for  Peter,  whose  courage  was 
as  easily  daunted  as  his  enthusiasm  was  easily  roused, 
he  fled  in  dismay  and  misery  back  to  Constantinople, 
having  lost  all  authority,  even  over  the  few  men  who 
remained  with  him.  He  inveighed  against  their  dis- 
order and  their  crimes,  and  he  declared  that  these 
were  the  causes  of  their  defeat.  He  might  have  added 
that  his  own  weakness,  the  vanity  which  led  him  to 
accept  the  role,  offered  him  by  an  ignorant  crowd,  of 
general  as  well  as  preacher,  was  no  less  a  cause  of 
disaster  than  the  disorder  which  it  was  his  business  to 
check  and  combat  day  by  day.  His  disappointment 
was  such  as  would  be  enough  to  kill  a  really  proud  and 
strong  man  ;  but  Peter  was  not  a  strong  man :  in  the 
hour  of  danger  he  bent  like  the  reed  to  the  storm ;  the 
violence  of  the  tempest  once  past,  however,  like  the 
reed,  he  lifted  up  his  head  again.  He  could  preach 
endurance,  but  he  could  not  himself  endure ;  his  faith 
required  constant  stimulants,  his  courage  the  fresh  fire 
of  continual  success.  Peter  lifted  up  his  head  again 
when  he  saw  the  splendid  array  of  Godfrey  and 
Raymond  ;  but  his  old  authority  with  the  chiefs  was 
gone.  Like  a  worn-out  tool,  he  had  served  his  purpose 
and  was  cast  aside.     He  had  no  more  voice  in  their 


i7o  JERUSALEM. 


councils — no  more  power  over  their  enthusiasm.  He 
lapsed  into  utter  insignificance,  save  once,  when  we 
find  him  actually  trying  to  desert  the  army  at 
Antioch  and  endeavouring  to  run  away;  and  once, 
later  on,  when  he  received  a  brief  ovation  from  the 
native  Christians  in  the  hour  of  final  triumph  at 
Jerusalem.  He  returned,  it  maybe  added,  in  safety  to 
France  when  the  war  was  over,  and  spent  sixteen 
years  more  in  honourable  obscurity,  the  head  of  a 
monastery.  Never  in  the  world's  history,  with  the 
exception  of  Mohammed  alone,  has  one  man  produced 
an  effect  so  great  and  so  immediate  ;  and  seldom  has 
one  man  wielded  an  instrument  so  potent  as  Peter, 
when  he  set  forth  at  the  head  of  an  army  which  wanted 
only  discipline  to  make  it  invincible. 

But  now  vexilla  regis  prodeunt ;  armies  of  a  different 
character  are  assembled  in  the  west.  Foremost  among 
them  is  that  headed  by  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  Duke  of 
Lorraine.  Of  him,  and  of  his  brother  Baldwin,  who 
accompanied  him,  we  shall  have  to  speak  again.  A 
word  on  the  other  chiefs  of  the  First  Crusade. 

With  the  army  of  Godfrey  were  joined  the  troops 
of  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  and  Count  Robert  of 
Flanders. 

Robert,  who  had  pledged  his  duchy  for  five  years  to 
his  brother  for  ten  thousand  marks,  we  all  know.  He 
was  strong,  brave,  and  generous.  But  he  had  no  other 
good  quality.  Had  his  prudence,  his  wisdom  in  council, 
been  equal  to  his  courage,  or  had  his  character  for 
temperance  and  self-restraint  been  better,  he  would 
probably  have  obtained  the  crown  of  Jerusalem  before 
Godfrey.  As  it  was,  he  went  out  for  the  purpose  of 
fighting ;  he  fought  well ;  and  came  home  again,  no 
richer  than  he  went.     He  was  joined  in  Syria  by  the 


THE  CHIEFS.  171 


Saxon  prince,  Edgar  Atheling,  the  lawful  heir  to  the 
English  crown  ;  but  the  chroniclers  are  silent  as  to  the 
prowess  of  the  English  contingent. 

The  other  leaders  who  followed  separately  were  Hugh 
Vermandois,  Hugh  le  Grand,  the  brother  to  the  King  of 
France,  and  Stephen,  Count  of  Blois,  a  scholar  and  a 
poet.  He  it  was  who  married  Adela,  daughter  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  and  was  the  father  of  our  King 
Stephen.  Both  of  these  chiefs  left  the  Crusade  at 
Antioch  and  went  home  disgusted  at  their  sufferings 
and  ill-success  ;  but,  after  the  taking  of  the  city, 
popular  opinion  forced  them  to  go  out  again. 

Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse,  who  led  his  own  army 
by  an  independent  route,  is  perhaps  the  most  difficult 
character  to  understand.  He  was  not  pious  ;  he  was 
cold  and  calculating ;  he  was  old  and  rich ;  he  had 
already  gained  distinction  by  fighting  against  the 
Moors ;  he  loved  money.  Why  did  he  go  ?  It  is 
impossible  to  say,  except  that  he  had  vague  ambitions 
of  kingdoms  in  the  East  more  splendid  than  any  in  the 
West.  He  alienated  a  great  part  of  his  territory  to  get 
treasure  for  the  war,  and  he  was  by  far  the  richest  of 
the  princes.  The  men  he  led,  the  Provencaux,  were 
much  less  ignorant,  less  superstitious  and  less  smitten 
with  the  divine  fury  of  the  rest.  Provence,  which  in  two 
more  centuries  was  to  be  itself  the  scene  of  a  crusade 
as  bloody  as  any  in  Palestine,  was  already  touched 
with  the  heresy  which  was  destined  to  break  out  in  full 
violence  before  very  many  years.  The  Provencaux 
loved  music,  dancing,  good  cheer ;  but  they  were  very 
indifferent  to  the  Church.  They  could  plunder  better 
than  they  could  pray,  and  they  were  more  often 
gathered  round  the  provisions  than  the  pulpits.  It  is 
singular,  therefore,  that  the  most  signal  miracle  which 


172  JERUSALEM. 


attended  the  progress  of  the  Christian  arms  should 
have  been  wrought  among  the  Provencaux.  It  was  so, 
however :  Peter  Bartholomeus,  who  found  the  Holy 
Lance,  was  a  priest  of  Provence.  Adhemar,  Bishop  of 
Puy,  himself  a  Provencal,  the  most  clear-headed,  most 
prudent,  and  most  thoughtful  of  the  army,  treated  the 
story  of  Peter,  it  is  true,  with  disdain;  nor  did  Ray- 
mond believe  it ;  as  was  evident  when,  on  there  appear- 
ing, shortly  afterwards,  symptoms  that  another  miracle, 
of  which  he  saw  no  use,  was  about  to  happen,  he  sup- 
pressed it  with  a  strong  hand.  At  the  same  time,  he 
did  not  disdain  to  make  use  of  the  Holy  Lance,  and  the 
'  miracle '  most  certainly  contributed  very  largely,  as 
we  shall  see,  to  the  success  of  the  Christians. 

The  two  remaining  great  chiefs  were  Bohemond  and 
Tancred.  Bohemond,  who  was  a  whole  cubit  taller  than 
the  tallest  man  in  the  army,  was  the  son  of  that 
Norman,  Robert  Guiscard,  who,  with  a  band  of  some 
thirty  knights,  managed  to  wrest  the  whole  of  Calabria, 
Apulia,  and  Sicily  from  the  Greeks.  On  his  father's 
death  he  had  quarrelled  with  his  brother  Roger  over 
the  inheritance,  and  was  actually  besieging  him  in  the 
town  of  Amalfi,  when  the  news  of  the  Crusades  reached 
him.  The  number  of  those  engaged,  the  rank  of  the 
leaders,  the  large  share  taken  by  the  Normans,  inspired 
him  with  the  hope  that  here,  at  last,  was  the  chance  of 
humiliating,  and  even  conquering,  his  enemy  the 
Emperor  of  Constantinople.  Perhaps,  too,  some  noble 
impulse  actuated  him.  However  that  may  be,  he 
began  himself  to  preach  a  Crusade  to  his  own  army,  and 
with  so  much  success — for  he  preached  of  glory  and 
plunder,  as  well  as  of  religion — that  he  found  himself  in 
a  few  days  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  horse  and  twenty 
thousand  foot.     With  these  he  joined  the  other  chiefs 


' 


THE  CHIEFS.  173 


at  Constantinople.  His  life  was  a  long  series  of  battles. 
He  was,  like  his  father,  crafty  and  sagacious;  hence  the 
name  of  Guiscard — the  wise  one ;  quite  indifferent  to 
the  main  object  of  the  Crusaders — in  fact,  he  did  not 
go  on  with  them  to  Jerusalem  itself — and  anxious 
only  to  do  the  Greeks  a  mischief  and  himself  some  good. 

With  him  went  his  cousin  Tancred,  the  hero  of 
the  '  Jerusalem  Delivered.'  The  history  of  the  First 
Crusade  contains  all  his  history.  After  the  conquest 
of  Jerusalem,  and  after  displaying  extraordinary  activity 
and  bravery,  he  was  made  Prince  of  Galilee,  and  his 
cousin  was  Prince  of  Antioch.  Tancred  is  a  hero  of 
romance.  Apart  from  his  fighting  he  has  no  character  ; 
in  every  battle  he  is  foremost,  but  when  the  battle  is 
over  we  hear  nothing  about  him.  He  appears,  how- 
ever, to  have  had  a  great  deal  of  his  cousin's  prudence, 
and  united  with  the  bravery  of  the  lion,  something,  at 
least,  of  the  cunning  of  the  fox.  He  died  about  the 
year  1113. 

Hugh,  Count  of  Vermandois,  who  was  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  army  brought  by  Robert  of  Normandy, 
was  the  third  son  of  Henry  I.  of  France.  He  was 
called  Le  Grand,  not  on  account  of  any  mental  or 
physical  superiority,  but  because  by  marriage  he  was 
the  head  of  the  Vermandois  house.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  to  desert  the  Crusade,  terrified  by  the  mis- 
fortunes which  overtook  the  expedition ;  but,  like 
Stephen  of  Blois,  he  was  obliged  by  the  force  of 
popular  opinion  to  go  back  again  as  a  Crusader.  The 
second  time  he  was  wounded  by  the  Turks  near  Nicsea, 
and  only  got  as  far  as  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  where  he  died. 
Like  Robert  of  Normandy,  he  joined  to  great  bravery 
and  an  extreme  generosity  a  certain  weakness  of 
character,  which  marred  all  his  finer  qualities. 


174  JERUSALEM. 

Robert  of  Flanders  seems  to  have  been  a  fighting 
man  pure  and  simple — by  the  Saracens  called  '  St. 
George,'  and  by  his  own  side  the  '  Sword  and  Lance 
of  the  Christians.'  He,  no  more  fighting  remaining 
to  be  done,  returned  quietly  to  his  own  states,  with 
the  comfortable  conviction  that  he  had  atoned  for  his 
former  sins  by  his  conduct  in  the  Holy  War.  He 
enjoyed  ten  years  more  fighting  at  home,  and  then  got 
drowned  in  the  River  Marne  ;  an  honest,  single-minded 
knight,  who  found  himself  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
spirit  of  his  age. 

With  these  principal  barons  and  chiefs  were  a  crowd 
of  poorer  princes,  each  with  his  train  of  knights  and 
men-at-arms.  The  money  for  the  necessary  equip- 
ments had  been  raised  in  various  ways :  some  had 
sold  their  lands,  others  their  seigneurial  rights  ;  some 
had  pawned  their  states ;  while  one  or  two,  despising 
these  direct  and  obvious  means  of  raising  funds,  had 
found  a  royal  road  to  money  by  pillaging  the  villages 
and  towns  around  them. 

It  was  not  till  eight  months  after  the  Council  of 
Clermont  that  Godfrey's  army,  consisting  of  ten 
thousand  knights  and  eighty  thousand  foot,  was  able 
to  begin  its  march.  Fortunately,  a  good  harvest  had 
been  gathered  in,  and  food  of  all  kinds  was  abundant 
and  cheap.  The  army,  moreover,  was  well-disciplined, 
and  no  excesses  were  committed  on  its  way  through 
Germany.  It  followed  pretty  nearly  the  same  line  as 
that  taken  by  Walter  and  Peter,  and  must  have  been 
troubled  along  the  whole  route  by  news  of  the  extrava- 
gances and  disasters  of  those  who  had  preceded  them. 
Arriving  on  the  frontiers  of  Hungary,  Godfrey  sent 
deputies  to  King  Coloman,  asking  permission  to  march 
peaceably,  buying  whatever  he  had  need  of,  through 


GODFREY'S  PROGRESS.  I?5 

his  dominions.  Hostages,  consisting  of  his  brother 
Baldwin  and  his  family,  were  given  for  the  good 
behaviour  of  the  troops,  and  permission  was  granted  ; 
the  King  of  Hungary  following  close  on  the  track  of 
the  army,  in  case  any  breach  of  faith  should  be 
attempted.  But  none  took  place,  and  at  Semlin, 
when  the  last  Crusader  had  crossed  the  river  into 
Bulgarian  territory,  King  Coloman  personally,  and 
with  many  expressions  of  friendship  and  goodwill, 
delivered  over  the  hostages,  and  parted.  Getting 
through  the  land  of  the  Bulgarians  as  quickly  as 
might  be,  Godfrey  pushed  on  as  far  as  Philippopolis. 
There  he  learned  that  Count  Hugh,  who  had  been 
shipwrecked,  sailing  in  advance  of  his  army,  on  the 
shores  of  Epirus,  was  held  a  prisoner  by  Alexis 
Comnenus,  very  probably  as  a  sort  of  hostage  for 
the  good  behaviour  of  the  very  host  whose  help  he 
had  implored.  Godfrey  sent  imperatively  to  demand 
the  release  of  the  count,  and  being  put  off  with 
an  evasive  reply,  gave  his  troops  liberty  to  ravage 
and  plunder  along  the  road — a  privilege  which  they 
fully  appreciated.  This  practical  kind  of  reply  con- 
vinced Alexis  that  the  barbarians  were  not,  at  least, 
awed  by  the  greatness  of  his  fame.  He  hastened 
to  give  way,  and  assured  Godfrey  that  his  prisoner 
should  be  released  directly  the  army  arrived  at  Con- 
stantinople. 

Meantime,  the  other  armies  were  all  on  their  way, 
converging  to  Constantinople.  The  route  followed  by 
them  is  not  at  all  times  clear.  Some  appear  to  have 
marched  through  Italy,  Dalmatia,  and  across  Thessaly, 
while  a  few  went  by  sea  ;  and  though  the  first  armies 
of  Peter  and  Walter  carried  off  a  vast  number  of 
pilgrims,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  armies  were 


176  JERUSALEM. 

followed  by  a  great  number  of  priests,  monks,  women, 
and  persons  unable  to  fight. 

Alexis,  on  hearing  of  Bohemond's  speedy  arrival,  was 
greatly  alarmed — as,  indeed,  he  had  reason  to  be. 
With  his  usual  duplicity,  he  sent  ambassadors  to 
flatter  his  formidable  visitor,  while  he  ordered  his 
frontier  troops  to  harass  him  on  his  march ;  and 
Bohemond  had  alternately  to  receive  the  assurances 
of  the  emperor's  friendship,  and  to  fight  his  troops. 
No  wonder  that  he  wrote  to  Godfrey  at  Constantinople 
to  be  on  his  guard,  as  he  had  to  do  '  with  the  most 
ferocious  wild  beast  and  the  most  wicked  man  alive.' 
But,  in  spite  of  his  hatred,  the  fierce  Norman  found 
himself  constrained  to  put  off  his  resentment  in  the 
presence  of  Greek  politeness ;  and  the  rich  gifts  with 
which  Alexis  loaded  him,  if  they  did  not  quiet  his 
suspicions,  at  least  allayed  his  wrath.  Alexis  got  rid 
of  his  unwelcome  visitors  as  speedily  as  he  could. 
After  going  through  the  ceremony  of  adopting  Godfrey 
as  his  son,  and  putting  the  empire  under  his  protection, 
he  received  the  homage  of  the  princes,  one  after  the 
other,  with  the  exception  alone  of  Tancred.  And  then 
he  sent  them  all  across  the  straits,  to  meet  whatever 
fortune  awaited  them  on  the  other  side. 

The  story  of  the  First  Crusade  is  an  oft-told  tale. 
But  it  is  a  tale  which  bears  telling  often.  There  is 
nothing  in  history  which  may  be  compared  with  this 
extraordinary  rising  of  whole  peoples.  The  numbers 
which  came  from  Western  Europe  cannot,  of  course, 
be  even  approximately  stated.  Probably,  counting  the 
women,  children,  and  camp  -  followers,  their  number 
would  not  be  less  than  a  million.  Of  these,  far  more 
than  a  half,  probably  two-thirds,  came  from  the  pro- 
vinces of   France.      The    Germans   were  but  slightly 


IN  ASIA  MINOR.  177 


affected  by  the  universal  enthusiasm — the  English  not 
at  all.  Edgar  Atheling  brought  a  band  of  his  country- 
men to  join  Robert  of  Normandy;  but  these  were 
probably  those  who  had  compromised  themselves  in 
former  attempts  to  raise  Northumbria  and  other  parts 
of  England.  The  Italians  came  from  the  south,  but 
not  from  the  north  ;  and  nearly  the  whole  of  Spain  was 
occupied  by  the  caliphate  of  Cordova.  That  all  these 
soldiers  were  fired  with  the  same  ardour,  were  led  by 
the  same  disinterested  hope,  is  not  to  be  supposed  ; 
but  it  is  certain  from  every  account,  whether  Christian 
or  Arabic,  that  the  main  object  of  their  enterprise  was 
a  motive  power  strong  enough,  of  itself,  to  enable  them 
to  endure  hardships  and  privations  almost  incredible, 
and  to  combat  with  forces  numerically,  at  least,  ten 
times  their  superior. 

The  way  to  the  Holy  Land  lay  through  a  hostile 
country.  Asia  Minor,  overrun  by  the  Mohammedans 
since  twenty  years,  was  garrisoned  rather  than  settled. 
Numerous  as  were  the  followers  of  the  Crescent,  they 
had  not  been  able  to  do  more,  in  their  rapid  march  of 
conquest,  than  to  take  strongholds  and  towns  and 
keep  them.  There  were  even  some  towns  which  had 
never  surrendered ;  while  of  those  which  belonged  to 
them,  many  were  held  by  insufficient  forces,  and  con- 
tained an  element  of  weakness  in  the  large  number  of 
Christian  inhabitants.  And  the  first  of  these  towns 
which  came  in  their  way  was  the  town  of  Nicaea. 

The  miserable  remnant  of  Peter's  army,  on  the 
arrival  of  their  friends,  made  haste  to  show  them  the 
places  of  their  own  disasters.  These  fugitives  had 
lived  hidden  in  the  forest,  and  now,  on  seeing  the 
brassard  of  the  Cross,  emerged — barefooted,  ragged, 
unarmed,  cowed — to  tell  the  story  of  their  sufferings. 

12 


i78  JERUSALEM. 

They  took  the  soldiers  to  see  the  plain  where  their 
great  army  had  been  massacred — there  were  the  piles 
of  bones,  the  plain  white  with  them  ;  they  took  them 
to  the  camp  where  the  women  and  children  had  been 
left.  These  were  gone,  but  the  remains  were  left  of 
the  old  men  and  those  who  had  tried  to  defend  them. 
Their  bodies  lay  in  the  moat  which  had  been  cut  round 
the  camp.  In  the  centre,  like  a  pillar  of  reproach, 
stood  the  white  stones  which  had  served  for  the  altar 
of  the  camp. 

Filled  with  wrath  at  the  sight  of  these  melancholy 
objects,  the  soldiers  cried  out  to  be  led  against  their 
enemy  ;  and  the  whole  army,  preceded  by  four  thousand 
pioneers  to  clear  the  way,  was  marched  in  good  order 
towards  Nicsea,  where  the  enemy  awaited  them.  The 
Crusaders — they  spoke  nineteen  different  languages — 
were  accoutred  with  some  attempt  at  similarity.  The 
barons  and  knights  wore  a  coat  of  chain-armour,  while 
a  helmet,  set  with  silver  for  the  princes,  of  steel  for 
knights,  and  of  iron  for  the  rest,  protected  their  heads. 
Round  bucklers  were  carried  by  the  knights,  long 
shields  by  the  foot-soldiers  ;  besides  the  lance,  the 
sword,  the  arrow,  they  carried  the  mace  and  battle- 
axe,  the  sling,  and  the  terrible  crossbow ;  while,  for  a 
rallying-point  for  the  soldiers,  every  prince  bore, 
painted  on  his  standard,  those  birds,  animals,  and 
other  devices  which  subsequently  became  coats-of- 
arms,  and  gave  birth  to  the  science  of  heraldry. 

The  total  number  of  the  gigantic  host  amounted,  it 
is  said,  to  one  hundred  thousand  knights  and  five 
hundred  thousand  foot-soldiers.  But  this  is  evidently 
an  exaggeration.  If  it  is  not,  the  losses  by  battle, 
famine,  and  disease  were  proportionately  greater  than 
those  of  any  wars  recorded  in  history. 


SIEGE  OF  NIC&A.  179 

The  first  operation  was  the  siege  of  Nicaea — Nicaea, 
the  city  of  the  great  Council — and  the  avenging  of  the 
slaughtered  army  of  Peter.  Nicaea  stood  on  the  low 
shores  of  a  lake.  It  was  provided  with  vessels  of  all 
kinds,  by  which  it  could  receive  men  and  provisions, 
and  was,  therefore,  practically  impregnable.  But  the 
Mohammedans,  fully  advertised  of  the  approach  of 
their  enemies,  had  made  preparations  to  receive  them  ; 
and  with  an  immense  army,  all  mounted,  charged  the 
array  of  the  Christians  on  the  moment  of  their  arrival 
in  the  plains,  and  while  they  were  occupied  in  putting 
up  their  tents.  Victory,  such  as  it  was,  remained  with 
the  Crusaders,  but  cost  them  the  lives  of  more  than 
two  thousand  of  their  men.  The  siege  of  Nicaea, 
undertaken  after  this  battle,  made  slow  progress. 
While  the  Christians  wasted  their  strength  in  vain 
efforts  to  demolish  the  walls  and  cross  the  moats,  the 
garrison,  constantly  reinforced  during  the  night  by 
means  of  the  lake,  held  out  unshaken  for  some  weeks. 
Finding  out  the  means  by  which  their  strength  was 
recruited,  Godfrey,  by  immense  exertions,  transported 
overland  from  the  neighbouring  sea  a  number  of  light 
craft,  which  he  launched  on  the  lake,  and  succeeded  in 
accomplishing  a  perfect  blockade  of  the  town.  The 
Nicaeans,  terrified  at  the  success  of  this  manoeuvre  and 
by  the  fate  of  their  most  important  town,  were  ready 
to  surrender  at  discretion,  when  the  cunning  of  Alexis 
Comnenus — who  had  despatched  a  small  force,  nomin- 
ally for  the  assistance  of  the  Crusaders,  but  really  for 
the  purpose  of  watching  after  his  own  interests — suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  the  town  to  surrender  to  him  alone; 
and  the  Christians,  after  all  their  labour,  had  the  mor- 
tification of  seeing  the  Greek  flag  flying  over  the 
citadel,  instead  of  their  own.     From  his  own  point  of 

12 — 2 


i8o  JERUSALEM. 


view,  the  Emperor  was  evidently  right.  The  Crusaders 
had  sworn  to  protect  his  empire;  he  claimed  sovereignty 
over  all  these  lands ;  his  object  was  neither  to  revenge 
the  death  of  a  horde  of  invaders,  nor  to  devastate  the 
towns,  nor  to  destroy  the  country — but  to  recover  and 
preserve.  Nicaea,  at  least,  was  almost  within  his  reach ; 
and  though  he  could  not  expect  that  his  authority 
would  be  recognised  in  the  south  of  Asia  Minor  or  in 
Syria,  he  had  reason  to  hope  that,  here  at  any  rate,  so 
near  to  Constantinople,  and  so  recently  after  the  oaths 
of  the  princes,  it  would  be  recognised. 

So  certainly  thought  the  princes  ;  for,  in  spite  of  the 
unrepressed  indignation  of  the  army,  they  refrained 
from  pillaging  the  town  and  murdering  the  infidels, 
and  gave  the  word  to  march. 

It  was  now  early  summer ;  the  soldiers  had  not  yet 
experienced  the  power  of  an  Asiatic  sun  ;  no  provision 
was  made  against  the  dangers  of  famine  and  thirst, 
and  their  way  led  through  a  land  parched  with  heat, 
devastated  by  wars,  over  rocky  passes,  across  pathless 
plains.  The  Crusaders  neither  knew  the  country,  nor 
made  any  preparations,  beyond  carrying  provisions  for 
two  or  three  days.  They  were,  moreover,  encumbered 
with  their  camp-followers,  their  baggage,  and  the  weight 
of  their  arms. 

They  were  divided,  principally  for  convenience  of 
forage,  into  two  corps  d'armee,  of  which  one  was  com- 
manded by  Godfrey,  Raymond,  Robert  of  Flanders, 
and  the  Count  of  Vermandois,  while  the  other  was  led 
by  the  three  Norman  chiefs,  Robert,  Tancred,  and 
Bohemond.  For  seven  days  all  went  well,  the  armies 
having  completely  lost  sight  of  each  other,  but  con-, 
fident,  after  their  recent  successes,  that  there  would 
be  no  more  enemies  at  hand  to  combat.     They  were 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GORGONA.  181 

mistaken.     Tancred's  division,  on  the  evening  of  the 
30th  of  June,  pitched  their  camp  in  a  valley  called  by 
William  of  Tyre  the  Valley  of  Gorgona.     It  was  pro 
tected  on  one  side  by  a  river,  on  the  other  by  a  marsh 
filled  with   reeds.     The   night  was  passed    in    perfect 
security,  but  at  daybreak  the  enemy  was  upon  them. 
Bohemond  took  the  command.     Placing   the  women 
and  the  sick  in  the  midst,  he  divided  the  cavalry  into 
three  brigades,  and  prepared  to  dispute  the  passage  of 
the  river.     The  Saracens  discharged  their  arrows  into 
the   thick   ranks    of   the    Crusaders,    whose   wounded 
horses    confused    and    disordered    them.     Unable    to 
endure    these    attacks   with    patience,    the    Christians 
crossed  the  river  and  charged  their  enemies ;  but  the 
Saracens,   mounted  on  lighter   horses,  made  way  for 
them    to   pass,    and    renewed    the    discharge    of  their 
arrows.     Another  band,  taking  advantage  of  the  knights 
having  crossed  the  river,  forded  it  at  a  higher  point, 
and  attacked  the  camp  itself.     Then  the  slaughter  of 
the  sick  and  wounded,  and  even  of  the  women,  save 
those  whose   beauty   was    sufficient    to    ransom    their 
lives,    began.     On   the  other  side  of   the   stream   the 
knights  fought  every  one  for  himself.     Tancred,  nearly 
killed  in  the  melee,  was  saved  by  Bohemond ;   Robert 
of  Normandy  performed  prodigies  ;  the   camp  was  re. 
taken,  and  the  women  rescued.     But  the  day  was   not 
won.     Nor  would  it  have  been  won  but  for  the  arrival 
of  Godfrey,  to  whom  Bohemond,  early  in  the  day,  had 
sent  a  messenger.     He  brought  up  the  whole  of  his 
army,  and  the  Saracens,  retreating  to  the  hills,  found 
themselves  attacked  on  all  sides.     They  fied  in  utter 
disorder,  leaving  twenty-three   thousand  dead  on  the 
field,  and  the  whole  of  their  camp  and  baggage  in  the 
hands  of  the  Christians.     These  had  lost  four  thousand, 


182  JERUSALEM. 


besides  the  number  of  followers  killed  in  the  camp. 
The  booty  was  immense,  and  the  soldiers  pleased 
themselves  by  dressing  in  the  long  silk  robes  of  the 
Mussulmans,  while  they  refurnished  themselves  with 
arms  from  those  they  found  upon  the  dead.  Conscious, 
however,  of  the  danger  they  had  escaped,  they  were 
careful  to  acknowledge  that  they  would  not  have  carried 
the  day,  had  it  not  been  for  St.  George  and  St. 
Demetrius,  who  had  been  plainly  visible  to  many 
fighting  on  their  side  ;  and  the  respect  which  they  con- 
ceived for  the  Saracens'  prowess  taught  them,  at  least, 
a  salutary  lesson  of  caution. 

While  they  were  rejoicing,  the  enemy  was  acting. 
The  defeated  Saracens,  retreating  southwards,  by  the 
way  which  the  Christians  must  follow,  devastated  and 
destroyed  everything  as  they  traversed  the  country, 
procuring  one  auxiliary  at  least  in  the  shape  of  famine. 
They  had  two  more — thirst  and  heat. 

The  Crusaders,  once  more  on  the  march,  resolved  not 
to  separate  again,  and  formed  henceforth  but  one  army. 
But  they  journeyed  through  a  desert  and  desolate 
country  ;  there  was  no  food  but  the  roots  of  plants  ; 
their  horses  died  for  want  of  water  and  forage ;  the 
knights  had  to  walk  on  foot,  or  to  ride  oxen  and  asses ; 
every  beast  was  converted  into  a  beast  of  burden,  until 
the  time  came  when  the  beasts  themselves  perished  by 
the  way,  and  all  the  baggage  was  abandoned.  Their 
path  led  through  Phrygia,  a  wild  and  sterile  country, 
with  no  fountains  or  rivers ;  the  road  was  strewn  as 
they  went  along  by  the  bodies  of  those  who  died  of 
sunstroke  or  of  thirst ;  women,  overcome  by  fatigue  and 
want  of  water,  lay  down  and  were  delivered  of  children, 
and  there  died,  mothers  and  infants ;  in  one  terrible 
day  five  hundred  died  on  the  march ;  the  falcons  and 


BALDWIN  AND  TANCRED.  183 

hawks,  which  the  knights  had  been  unable  to  leave 
behind,  fell  dead  from  their  perches ;  the  hounds 
deserted  their  masters,  and  went  away  to  seek  for 
water  ;  the  horses  themselves,  in  which  the  hope  of  the 
soldiers  was  placed,  lay  down  and  died.  At  last  they 
came  to  a  river ;  even  this  timely  relief  was  fatal,  for 
three  hundred  killed  themselves  by  drinking  too  much. 
They  rested,  after  this  disastrous  march,  at  Antiocheia, 
the  former  capital  of  Pisidia.  Here  Raymond  fell  ill, 
but  happily  recovered,  and  Godfrey  was  dangerously 
wounded  in  a  conflict  with  a  bear.  To  account  for  the 
discomfiture  of  the  prince,  it  was  recorded  that  the  bear 
was  the  biggest  and  most  ferocious  bear  ever  seen. 

During  their  stay  at  Antiocheia,  Tancred  and 
Baldwin — the  former  with  a  detachment  of  Italians,  the 
latter  with  one  of  Flemings — were  sent  to  explore  the 
country,  to  bring  help  to  the  Christians,  and  report  on 
the  means  of  obtaining  provisions.  They  went  first  to 
Iconium  ;  finding  no  enemies,  they  went  southwards, 
and  Tancred,  leading  the  way,  made  an  easy  conquest 
of  Tarsus,  promising  to  spare  the  lives  of  the  garrison. 
Baldwin  arrived  the  next  day,  and  on  perceiving  the 
flag  of  Tancred  on  the  towers,  insisted,  on  the  ground 
that  his  own  force  was  superior  in  numbers,  on  taking 
it  down  and  replacing  it  by  his  own.  A  violent  quarrel 
arose,  the  first  of  the  many  which  were  to  disgrace  the 
history  of  the  Crusades.  Neither  would  give  way. 
They  agreed  at  last  to  refer  the  dispute  to  the  inhabi- 
tants. These  at  first  gave  the  preference  to  Tancred ; 
but  at  last,  yielding  to  the  threats  of  Baldwin,  trans- 
ferred their  allegiance  to  him,  and  threw  Tancred's  flag 
over  the  ramparts.  Tancred  withdrew,  indignant,  and 
marched  with  all  his  men  to  Adana,  an  important  place 
some  twenty  miles  from  Tarsus.     This  he  found  in  the 


JERUSALEM. 


possession  of  a  Burgundian  adventurer,  who  had  got  a 
company  of  pilgrims  to  follow  him,  and  seized  the 
place.  History  does  not  deign,  unfortunately,  to 
notice  the  exploits  of  the  viri  obscuri,  but  it  is  clear 
enough  that,  while  the  great  princes  were  seizing  states 
and  cities,  bands  of  armed  soldiers,  separated  from  the 
great  army,  were  overrunning  the  country,  taking 
possession  of  small  forts  and  towns,  where  they  lived 
at  their  own  will  and  pleasure,  till  the  Saracens  came 
and  killed  them  all.  The  Burgundian  was  courteous  to 
Tancred,  and  helped  him  with  provisions  on  his  way  to 
Malmistra,  a  large  and  important  place,  before  which  he 
pitched  his  camp. 

But  a  terrible  calamity  had  happened  at  Tarsus. 
Baldwin  got  into  the  town,  and,  jealous  of  his  newly- 
acquired  possession,  ordered  the  gates  to  be  carefully 
closed  and  guarded.  In  the  evening,  a  troop  of  three 
hundred  Crusaders,  sent  by  Bohemond  to  reinforce 
Tancred,  arrived  at  the  town,  and  asked  for  admission. 
Baldwin  refused.  They  pleaded  the  extremity  of  fatigue 
and  hunger  to  which  a  long  march  had  reduced  them. 
Baldwin  still  refused.  His  own  men  urged  him  to 
admit  them.  Baldwin  refused  again.  In  the  morning 
they  were  all  found  dead,  killed  in  the  night  by 
the  Turks,  who  took  advantage  of  their  sleep  and 
exhaustion.  At  this  spectacle  the  grief  and  rage  of  the 
soldiers  were  turned  against  the  cause  of  their  comrades' 
death.  Baldwin  took  refuge  in  a  tower,  but  presently 
came  out,  and,  lamenting  the  disaster  of  which  he  alone 
was  the  cause,  pointed  his  soldiers  to  the  towers  where 
the  garrison  of  the  Saracens  (prisoners,  but  under 
promise  of  safety)  were  shut  up.  The  Christians 
massacred  every  one. 

Here  they  were  joined  by  a  fleet  of  pirates,  who, 


GUYMER  THE  PIRATE.  185 

after  having  been  for  ten  years  the  terror  of  the 
Mediterranean,  were  desirous  of  expiating  their  crimes 
by  taking  part  in  the  Crusade.  Their  leader,  Guymer, 
was  a  Boulogne  man,  and  readily  brought  his  men  as  a 
reinforcement  to  the  troops  of  Baldwin,  his  seigneur. 
Baldwin  left  a  garrison  in  Tarsus,  and  set  out  to  rejoin 
Tancred.  But  the  death  of  the  three  hundred  could 
not  so  easily  be  forgotten.  Tancred  and  his  army, 
maddened  at  the  intelligence  of  Baldwin's  approach, 
clamoured  for  revenge,  and  Tancred,  without  much 
reluctance,  gave  the  order  to  attack  Baldwin's  camp. 
A  sanguinary  battle  followed,  in  which  Tancred's  forces, 
inferior  in  numbers,  were  worsted,  and  obliged  to  with- 
draw. The  night  brought  reflection,  and  the  next 
morning  was  occupied  in  reconciliation  and  promises 
of  friendship.  Malmistra  was  taken,  and  all  the 
Mohammedans  slaughtered,  and  after  a  few  more 
exploits  Tancred  returned  to  the  army.  Baldwin, 
however,  whose  ardour  for  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem 
had  yielded  by  this  time  to  his  ambition,  only  saw,  in 
the  disordered  state  of  the  country,  the  splendid  oppor- 
tunities which  it  presented  to  one  who  had  the  courage 
to  seize  them.  Perhaps  the  sight  of  the  successful 
Burgundian  of  Adana  helped  him  to  form  projects  of 
his  own  ;  perhaps  the  remarks  of  an  Armenian  named 
Pancrates,  who  was  always  whispering  in  his  ear  of  the 
triumphs  to  be  won  by  an  independent  line  of  action. 
He  returned  to  Godfrey,  indeed,  but  only  to  try  his 
powers  of  seduction  among  the  soldiers,  whom  he 
incited  to  follow  him  by  magnificent  promises.  The 
princes  were  alarmed  at  the  first  news  of  his  intended 
defection  ;  at  a  council  hastily  assembled,  it  was  resolved 
to  prohibit  any  Crusader,  whatever  his  rank,  from 
leaving  the  army.     Baldwin,  however,  the  very  night 


1 86  JERUSALEM. 


on  which  this  resolution  was  carried,  secretly  marched 
out  of  the  camp,  at  the  head  of  some  twelve  hundred 
foot-soldiers  and  two  hundred  knights,  accompanied  by 
his  Armenian  friend.  His  exploits,  until  he  was 
summoned  back  to  Jerusalem,  hardly  concern  us  here. 
After  taking  one  or  two  small  towns,  and  quarrelling 
with  Pancrates,  whom  he  left  behind,  he  pushed  on  to 
Edessa,  which,  by  a  series  of  lucky  escapes,  he  entered 
with  only  a  hundred  knights,  to  become  its  king.  Here 
he  must  for  the  present  be  left. 

Meantime,  the  great  army  of  the  Crusaders  was 
pressing  on.  For  the  moment  it  was  unmolested. 
Both  Christian  and  Saracen  had  begun  to  conceive  a 
respect  for  each  other's  prowess.  The  latter  found 
that  his  innumerable  troops  of  light  cavalry  were  of 
little  use  against  the  heavily-armed  and  disciplined 
masses  of  the  Crusaders  :  while  these,  harassed  by  the 
perpetual  renewal  of  armies  which  seemed  only 
destroyed  to  spring  again  from  the  earth,  and  con- 
vinced now  that  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  City  would 
be  no  holiday  ramble  in  a  sunny  land,  marched  with 
better  discipline  and  more  circumspection.  But  the 
Saracens,  unable  to  raise  another  army  in  time,  fled 
before  them,  leaving  towns  and  villages  unoccupied. 
The  Christians  burnt  the  mosques,  and  plundered  the 
country.  Even  the  passes  of  Mount  Taurus  were  left 
unguarded,  and  the  Christian  army  passed  through 
defiles  and  valleys,  where  a  very  small  force  might  have 
barred  the  passage  for  the  whole  army.  They  suffered, 
however,  from  their  constant  enemies,  heat  and  thirst. 
On  one  mountain  called  the  '  Mountain  of  the  Devil,' 
the  army  had  to  pass  along  a  path  so  narrow  that  the 
horses  were  led,  and  the  men  could  not  walk  two 
abreast.     Here,  wearied   with  the    ascent,    faint    with 


SYRIA.  187 


thirst,  hundreds  sank,  unable  to  proceed,  or  fell  over  the 
precipices.  It  was  the  last  of  the  cruel  trials  through 
which  they  were  to  pass  before  they  reached  the  land 
of  their  pilgrimage.  From  the  summit  of  the  last  pass, 
they  beheld,  stretched  out  at  their  feet,  the  fair  land  of 
Syria.  Covered  with  ruins,  as  it  was — those  ruins 
which  exist  to  the  present  day — and  devastated  by  so 
many  successive  wars,  nothing  had  been  able  to  ruin 
the  fertility  of  the  soil ;  and  after  the  arid  plains 
through  which  they  had  passed,  no  wonder  the  worn 
and  weary  soldiers  rejoiced  and  thanked  God  aloud, 
when  they  saw  at  last  the  very  country  to  which  they 
were  journeying.  The  ordeal  of  thirst  and  heat  had 
been  passed  through,  and  their  numbers  were  yet 
strong.  Nothing  now  remained,  as  they  fondly  thought, 
but  to  press  on,  and  fight  the  enemy  before  the  very 
walls  of  Jerusalem. 

The  successes  of  Tancred  cleared  the  way  for  the 
advance  of  the  main  army.  Nothing  interposed  to  stop 
them  ;  provisions  were  plentiful,  and  their  march  was 
unimpeded  by  any  enemy.  Count  Robert  of  Flanders 
led  the  advance  corps.  At  Artasia,  a  town  about  a 
day's  march  from  Antioch,  the  gates  were  thrown  open 
to  them  ;  and  though  the  garrison  of  Antioch  threw 
out  flying  squadrons  of  cavalry,  they  were  not  able  to 
check  the  advance  of  the  army,  which  swarmed  along 
the  roads,  in  numbers  reduced,  indeed,  by  one  half, 
from  the  six  hundred  thousand  who  gathered  before 
Nicaea,  but  still  irresistible.  The  old  bridge  of  stone 
which  crossed  the  Orontes  was  stormed,  and  the 
Crusaders  were  fairly  in  Syria,  and  before  Antioch. 

The  present  governor  of  this  great  and  important 
town  was  Baghi  Seyan,  one  of  the  Seljukian  princes. 
He  had  with  him  a  force  of  about  twenty-five  thousand 


JERUSALEM. 


foot  and  horse  ;  he  was  defended  by  a  double  wall  of 
stone,  strengthened  by  towers ;  he  was  plentifully 
supplied  with  provisions  ;  he  had  sent  messengers  for 
assistance  to  all  quarters,  and  might  reasonably  hope 
to  be  relieved ;  and  he  had  expelled  from  the  town 
all  useless  mouths,  including  the  native  Christians. 
Moreover,  it  was  next  to  impossible  for  the  Crusaders 
to  establish  a  complete  line  round  the  city,  and  cut  him 
off  from  supplies  and  reinforcements. 

It  was  late  in  the  autumn  when  the  Christian  army 
sat  down  before  the  first  place.  For  the  first  two  or 
three  weeks  the  country  was  scoured  for  provisions, 
and  the  soldiers,  improvident  and  reckless,  lived  in  a 
luxury  and  abundance  which  they  had  never  before 
experienced.  But  even  Syria,  fertile  and  rich,  could 
not  long  suffice  for  the  daily  wants  of  a  wasteful  army 
of  three  hundred  thousand  men.  Food  began  to  grow 
scarce  ;  foraging  parties  brought  in  little  or  nothing, 
though  they  scoured  the  whole  country;  bands  of  Sara- 
cens, mounted  on  fleet  and  hardy  horses,  intercepted 
straggling  parties,  and  robbed  them  of  their  cattle ; 
the  fleet  brought  them  very  small  supplies  ;  Baldwin 
had  as  yet  sent  nothing  from  Edessa,  and  famine  once 
more  made  its  appearance  in  the  camp.  The  rains  of 
winter  fell,  and  their  tents  were  destroyed.  The  poor 
lived  on  what  they  could  find,  bark  and  roots ;  the  rich 
had  to  spend  all  their  money  in  buying  food  ;  and  all 
the  horses  died.  Worse  still,  there  was  defection 
among  the  very  leaders  ;  Robert  of  Normandy  went  to 
Laodicea,  and  was  persuaded  with  great  difficulty  to 
come  back.  Peter  the  Hermit  fairly  ran  away,  and  was 
brought  back  a  prisoner  to  the  army  which  his  own 
voice  had  raised.  And  when  Bohemond  and  Tancred 
went  out,  with  as  large  a  force  as  could  be  spared,  to 


SIEGE  OF  ANTIOCH. 


procure  provisions,  they  were  attacked  by  superior 
numbers,  and  obliged  to  return  empty-handed.  Bishop 
Adhemar,  seeing  in  the  sins  of  the  camp  a  just  cause 
for  the  punishments  that  were  falling  upon  it,  enjoined 
a  three  days'  fast,  and  public  prayers.  The  former  was 
superfluous,  inasmuch  as  the  whole  camp  was  fasting. 
But  he  did  more.  He  caused  all  the  women  to  be  sent 
away,  and  all  games  of  chance  to  be  entirely  prohibited. 
The  distress  continued,  but  hope  and  confidence  were 
revived  ;  and  when,  early  in  the  year  1098,  supplies 
were  brought  in,  the  army  regained  most  of  its  old 
bravoure.  A  victory  gained  over  a  reinforcement  of 
twenty-five  thousand  infidels  aided  in  reviving  the  spirit 
of  the  soldiers  :  it  was  in  this  action  that  Godfrey  is 
reported  to  have  cut  a  Saracen  completely  through  the 
body,  so  that  the  horse  galloped  off  with  the  legs  and 
lower  part  of  the  trunk  still  in  the  saddle.  The  camp 
of  the  enemy  was  taken,  and  for  a  time  there  was  once 
more  abundance.  But  the  siege  was  not  yet  over.  For 
eight  months  it  lingered  on,  defended  with  the  obstinacy 
that  the  Moslems  always  displayed  when  brought  to  bay 
within  stone  walls.  It  was  not  till  June  that  the  town, 
not  the  citadel,  was  taken,  by  the  treachery  of  one 
Pyrrhus,  an  Armenian  renegade.  He  offered  secretly  to 
put  the  town,  which  was  in  his  charge,  into  the  hands  of 
Bohemond.  The  Norman  chief,  always  anxious  to 
promote  his  own  interests,  proposed,  at  the  council  of 
the  Crusaders,  to  take  the  town  on  condition  that  it 
should  be  given  to  him.  Raymond  of  Toulouse  alone 
objected — his  objection  was  overruled  ;  and  on  the 
night  of  the  2nd  of  June,  Pyrrhus  admitted  the 
Christians.  They  made  themselves  masters,  under 
cover  of  the  darkness,  of  ten  of  the  towers  round  the 
walls ;    and    opening    the    gates    to    their   own    men, 


i9o  JERUSALEM. 

made  an  easy  conquest  of  the  town  in  the  morning, 
slaughtering  every  Mussulman  they  could  find.  Baghi 
Seyan  fled,  and,  being  abandoned  by  his  guards,  was 
murdered  by  some  Syrian  woodcutters,  who  brought  his 
head  to  the  camp.  And  then,  once  more,  untaught  by 
their  previous  sufferings,  the  Crusaders  for  a  few  days 
gave  themselves  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  booty. 
But  the  citadel  was  not  taken,  and  the  host  of  Kerboga 
was  within  a  short  march  of  the  town.  He  came 
with  the  largest  army  that  the  Christians  had  yet 
encountered.  Robert  of  Flanders  defended  the  bridge 
for  a  whole  day  with  five  hundred  men,  but  was  obliged 
to  retire,  and  the  Christians  were  in  their  turn  the 
besieged. 

And  then,  again,  famine  set  in.  The  seashore  was 
guarded  by  the  enemy,  and  supplies  could  not  be 
procured  from  the  fleet ;  the  horses,  and  all  the  beasts 
of  burden,  were  slaughtered  and  eaten ;  some  of  the 
knights  who  were  faint-hearted  managed  to  let  them- 
selves down  by  ropes  from  the  walls,  and  made  their 
way  to  Stephen  of  Blois,  who  had  long  since  separated 
from  the  main  army,  and  was  now  lying  at  Alexandretta. 
They  brought  such  accounts  of  the  misery  of  the  army, 
that  Stephen  abandoned  the  cause  as  hopeless,  and  set 
sail  with  his  men  to  Cilicia.  Here  he  found  Alexis 
himself,  with  a  large  army,  consisting  chiefly  of  those 
who  had  arrived  too  late  to  join  the  army  of  Godfrey. 
The  newcomers  heard  with  dismay  the  accounts  given 
by  Stephen  ;  they  gave  themselves  up  to  lamentation 
and  despair ;  they  blasphemed  the  God  who  had 
permitted  His  soldiers  to  be  destroyed,  and  for  some 
days  would  actually  permit  no  prayers  to  be  offered  up 
in  their  camp.  Alexis  broke  up  his  camp,  and  returned 
to    Constantinople.      And  when  the  news  arrived    in 


THE   VISION  OF  THE  LANCE.  191 

Antioch,  the  Crusaders,  too  wretched  to  fight  or  to 
hope,  shut  themselves  up  in  the  houses,  and  refused 
to  come  out.  Bohemond  set  lire  to  the  town,  and  so 
compelled  them  to  show  themselves,  but  could  not 
make  them  fight. 

Where  human  eloquence  failed,  one  of  those  miracles, 
common  enough  in  the  ages  of  credulity,  the  result  of 
over-heated  imaginations  and  excited  brains,  succeeded. 
A  vision  of  the  night  came  to  one  Peter  Bartholomasus, 
a  monk,  of  two  men  in  shining  raiment.  One  of  them, 
St.  Andrew  himself,  took  the  monk  into  the  air,  and 
brought  him  to  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  and  set  him 
at  the  south  side  of  the  altar.  He  then  showed  him 
the  head  of  a  lance.  '  This,'  he  said,  '  was  the  lance 
which  opened  the  side  of  Our  Lord.  See  where  I  bury 
it.  Get  twelve  men  to  dig  in  the  spot  till  they  find  it.' 
But  in  the  morning  Peter  was  afraid  to  tell  his  vision. 
This  was  before  the  taking  of  Antioch.  But  after  the 
town  was  taken,  the  vision  came  again,  and  in  his 
dream  Peter  saw  once  more  the  Apostle,  and  received 
his  reproaches  for  neglect  of  his  commands.  Peter 
remonstrated  that  he  was  poor  and  of  no  account ; 
and  then  he  saw  the  Apostle's  companion  was  none 
other  than  the  Blessed  Lord  Himself,  and  the  humble 
monk  was  privileged  to  fall  and  kiss  His  feet. 

We  are  not  of  those  who  believe  that  men  are  found 
so  base  as  to  contrive  a  story  of  this  kind.  There  is 
little  doubt  in  our  minds  that  this  poor  Peter,  starving 
as  he  was,  full  of  fervour  and  enthusiasm,  dreamed  his 
dream,  not  once  but  twice,  and  went  at  last,  brimful  of 
pious  gratitude,  to  Adhemar  with  his  tale.  Adhemar 
heard  him  with  incredulity  and  coldness.  But  Raymond 
saw  in  this  incident  a  means  which  might  be  turned  to 
good  account.     He  sent  twelve  men  to  the  church,  and 


192  JERUSALEM. 


from  morning  till  night  they  dug  in  vain.  But  at  length 
Peter  himself,  leaping  into  the  hole  they  had  made, 
called  aloud  on  God  to  redeem  His  promise,  and  pro- 
duced a  rusty  spear-head.  Adhemar  acquiesced  with 
the  best  grace  in  his  power  ;  the  lance  was  exhibited  to 
the  people  the  next  morning,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
army,  famished,  and  ragged,  and  dismounted,  once 
more  beat  as  high  as  when  they  sewed  the  red  Cross 
badge  upon  their  shoulders,  and  shouted  '  Dieu  le  veut.' 
They  had  been  besieged  three  weeks  ;  all  their  horses, 
except  three  hundred,  were  killed.  Their  ranks  were 
grievously  thinned,  but  they  went  out  to  meet  the 
enemy  with  such  confidence  that  the  only  orders  given 
related  to  the  distribution  of  the  plunder.  As  they 
took  their  places  in  the  plain,  Adhemar  raised  their 
spirits  by  the  announcement  of  another  miracle. 
St.  George,  St.  Maurice,  and  St.  Demetrius,  had 
themselves  been  distinctly  seen  to  join  the  army, 
and  were  in  their  midst.  The  Christians  fought  as 
only  religious  enthusiasts  can  fight — as  the  Moham- 
medans fought  when  the  Caliph  Omar  led  his 
conquering  bands  northwards,  with  the  delights  of 
heaven  for  those  who  fell,  and  the  joys  of  earth  for 
those  who  survived.  The  Moslems  were  routed  with 
enormous  slaughter.  Their  camp,  rich  and  luxurious, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors  ;*  plenty  took  the 
place  of  starvation ;  the  common  soldiers  amused 
themselves  with  decking  their  persons  with  the  silken 
robes  they  found  in  the  huts ;  the  cattle  were  driven  to 
the  town  in  long  processions ;  and  once  more,  forgetful 

*  Among  the  spoils  taken  by  the  Christians  one  of  the  chroniclers 
reports  a  mass  of  manuscripts,  'on  which  were  traced  the  sacri- 
legious rites  of  the  Mohammedans  in  execrable  characters,'  doubt- 
less Arabic.  Probably  among  these  manuscripts  were  many  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Nothing  is  said  about  their  fate,  but  of  course 
they  were  all  destroyed. 


MARCH  ON  JERUSALEM.  193 

of   all   but   the    present,  the   Christians    revelled   and 
feasted. 

The  rejoicings  had  hardly  ceased  when  it  was  found 
that  another  enemy  had  to  be  encountered.  Battle  was 
to  be  expected ;  famine  had  already  twice  been  experi- 
enced ;  this  time  it  was  pestilence,  caused,  no  doubt, 
by  the  crowding  together  of  so  large  an  army  and  the 
absence  of  sanitary  measures.  The  first  to  fall  was  the 
wise  and  good  Adhemar,  most  sensible  of  all  the  chiefs. 
His  was  a  dire  loss  to  the  Crusaders.  Better  could 
they  have  spared  even  the  fiery  Tancred  or  the  crafty 
Bohemond.  The  Crusaders,  terrified  and  awe-stricken, 
clamoured  to  be  led  to  Jerusalem,  but  needs  must  that 
they  remained  till  the  heats  of  summer  passed,  and 
health  came  again  with  the  early  winter  breezes,  in 
their  camp  at  Antioch. 

It  was  not  till  November  that  they  set  out  on  their 

march  to  Jerusalem.     The  time  had  been  consumed  in 

small  expeditions,  the  capture  of  unimportant  places, 

and  the  quarrels  of  the  princes  over  the  destination  of 

Antioch,  which  Bohemond  claimed  for  himself.     Their 

rival  claims  were  still  unsettled,  when  the  voice  of  the 

people  made  itself  heard,  and  very  shame  made  them, 

for  a  time  at  least,  act  in  concert,  and  the  advance 

corps,  led  by  Bohemond,  Robert  of    Normandy,  and 

I  Raymond  of  Toulouse,  began  their  southward  march 

with  the  siege  of   Marra,   an  important  place,  which 

they  took,  after  three  or  four  weeks,  by  assault.     Fresh 

:  disputes  arose  about  the  newly-acquired  town,  but  the 

1  common  soldiers,  furious  at  these  never-ending  delays, 

ended  them  by  the  simple  expedient  of  pulling  down 

the  walls.     It  was  the  middle  of  January,    however, 

I  Defore  they  resumed  their   march.     From    Marah   to 

;  Capharda,  thence  along  the  Orontes,  when  the  small 

*3 


194  JERUSALEM. 


towns  were  placed  in  their  hands,  to  Hums,  when  they 
turned  westward  to  the  sea,  and  sat  down  before  the 
castle  of  Area  till  they  should  be  joined  by  the  main 
body,  which  was  still  at  Antioch.  It  came  up  in  April, 
and  the  army  of  the  Crusaders,  united  again,  were 
ready  to  resume  their  march,  when  they  were 
interrupted  by  more  disputes.  In  an  ill  -  timed 
hour,  Bohemond,  the  incredulous  Norman,  accused 
Raymond  of  conniving  with  Peter  to  deceive  the 
army  by  palming  off  upon  them  an  old  rusty  lance- 
head  as  the  sacred  spear  which  had  pierced  the  side 
of  the  Lord.  Arnold,  chaplain  to  Duke  Robert  of 
Normandy,  was  brought  forward  to  support  the 
charge.  He  rested  his  argument  chiefly  on  the  fact 
that  Adhemar  had  disbelieved  the  miracle  :  but  he  con- 
tended as  well  that  the  spear-head  could  not  possibly 
be  in  Antioch.  He  was  confuted  in  the  manner 
customary  to  the  time.  One  bold  monk  swore  that 
Adhemar,  after  death,  for  his  contumacy  in  refusing 
to  believe  in  the  miracle,  had  been  punished  by  having 
one  side  of  his  beard  burned  in  the  flames  of  hell,  and 
was  not  permitted  a  full  enjoyment  of  heaven  till  the 
beard  should  grow  again.  Another  quoted  a  prophecy 
of  St.  Peter,  alleged  to  be  in  a  Syrian  gospel,  that  the 
invention  of  the  lance  was  to  be  a  sign  of  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  Christians ;  a  third  had  spoken  personally 
with  St.  Mark  himself;  while  the  Virgin  Mary  had 
appeared  by  night  to  a  fourth  to  corroborate  the  story. 
Arnold  pretended  to  give  way  before  testimony  so 
overwhelming,  and  was  ready  to  retract  his  opinion 
publicly,  when  Peter,  crazed  with  enthusiasm,  offered 
to  submit  his  case  to  the  ordeal  of  fire.  This  method 
was  too  congenial  to  the  fierce  and  eager  spirits  of  the 
Crusaders  to  be  refused.  Raymond  d'Agiles,  who  was 
a  witness,  thus  tells  the  story  : 


THE  ORDEAL  BY  FIRE.  195 

'  Peter's  proposition  appeared  to  us  reasonable,  and 
after  enjoining  a  fast  on  Peter,  we  agreed  to  kindle  the 
fire  on  Good  Friday  itself. 

1  On  the  day  appointed,  the  pile  was  prepared  after 
noon  ;  the  princes  and  the  people  assembled  to  the 
number  of  forty  thousand ;  the  priests  coming  bare- 
footed and  dressed  in  their  sacerdotal  robes.  The  pile 
was  made  with  dry  branches  of  olive-trees,  fourteen 
feet  long,  and  four  feet  high,  divided  into  two  heaps, 
with  a  narrow  path,  a  foot  wide,  between  each.  As 
soon  as  the  wood  began  to  burn,  I  myself,  Raymond,* 
pronounced  these  words  :  "  If  the  Lord  Himself  has 
spoken  to  this  man  face  to  face,  and  if  Saint  Andrew 
has  shown  him  the  lance  of  the  Lord,  let  him  pass 
through  the  fire  without  receiving  any  hurt ;  or,  if  not, 
let  him  be  burnt  with  the  lance  which  he  carries  in  his 
hand."     And  all,  bending  the  knee,  replied,  "  Amen." 

'  Then  Peter,  dressed  in  a  single  robe,  kneeling  before 
the  Bishop  of  Albaric,  called  God  to  witness  that  he 
had  seen  Jesus  on  the  cross  face  to  face,  and  that  he 
had  heard  from  the  mouth  of  the  Saviour,  and  that  of 
the  Apostles  Peter  and  Andrew,  the  words  reported  to 
the  princes :  he  added  that  nothing  of  what  he  had 
said  in  the  name  of  the  saints  and  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  had  been  invented  by  himself,  and  declared  that 
if  there  was  found  any  falsehood  in  his  story,  he  con- 
sented to  suffer  from  the  flames.  And  for  the  other 
sins  that  he  had  committed  against  God  and  his  neigh- 
bours, he  prayed  that  God  would  pardon  him,  and  that 
the  bishop,  all  the  other  priests,  and  the  people  would 
implore  the  mercy  of  God  for  him.  This  said,  the 
bishop  gave  him  the  lance. 

*  Peter  knelt  again,  and  making  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
*  He  was  chaplain  to  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse. 

13—2 


196  JERUSALEM. 


he  reached  the  flames  without  appearing  afraid.  He 
remained  one  moment  in  the  midst  of  the  fire,  and 
then  came  out  by  the  grace  of  God.  .  .  .  After  Peter 
had  gone  through  the  fire,  and  although  the  flames 
were  still  raging,  the  people  gathered  up  the  brands, 
the  ashes,  and  the  charcoal,  with  such  ardour  that  in  a 
few  moments  nothing  was  left.  The  Lord  in  the  end 
performed  great  miracles  by  means  of  these  sacred 
relics.  Peter  came  out  of  the  flames  without  even  his 
gown  being  burned,  and  the  light  veil  which  covered 
the  lance-head  escaped  uninjured.  He  made  imme- 
diately the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  "  God  help!"  to  the  crowd,  who  pressed  upon 
him  to  be  certain  that  it  was  really  he.  Then,  in  their 
eagerness,  and  because  everybody  wanted  to  touch 
him,  and  to  have  even  some  little  piece  of  his  dress, 
they  trampled  him  under  their  feet,  cut  off  pieces  of 
his  flesh,  broke  his  back-bone,  and  broke  his  ribs.  He 
was  only  saved  from  being  killed  there  and  then  by 
Raymond  Pelot,  a  knight,  who  hastily  called  a  number 
of  soldiers  and  rescued  him. 

'  When  he  was  brought  into  our  tent,  we  dressed  his 
wounds,  and  asked  him  why  he  had  stopped  so  long  in 
the  fire.  "  Because,"  he  said,  "  the  Lord  appeared  to 
me  in  the  midst  of  the  flames,  and,  taking  me  by  the 
hand,  said,  '  Since  thou  hast  doubted  of  the  holy  lance, 
which  the  blessed  Andrew  showed  to  thee,  thou  shaft 
not  go  out  from  this  sound  and  safe.  Nevertheless, 
thou  shalt  not  see  hell.'  After  these  words  He  sent 
me  on.  See  now  the  marks  of  fire  on  my  body."  And, 
in  fact,  there  were  certain  burnings  in  the  legs,  small 
in  number,  though  the  wounds  were  great.' 

Peter  Bartholomew  died  the  day  after — of  the  fire, 
said    Bohemond,  the  doubter,   who  continued    in   his 


ARRIVAL.  197 


disbelief,  in  spite  of  the  ordeal;  of  the  injuries  he  had 
received  in  the  crowd,  said  Raymond  of  Toulouse. 
But  the  authority  of  the  lance  was  established,  and  it 
was  to  do  good  service  in  the  battles  to  come.  The 
faith  of  the  Crusaders  was  kept  up  by  many  other 
visions  and  miracles.  One  that  had  the  greatest  effect 
was  a  vision  seen  by  Anselm.  To  him  appeared  by 
night  Angelram,  the  young  son  of  the  Count  of  Saint 
Paul,  who  had  been  killed  at  Marra.  '  Know,'  said  the 
phantom,  '  that  those  who  fight  for  Christ  die  not.' 
'And  whence  this  glory  that  surrounds  you?'  Then 
Angelram  showed  in  the  heavens  a  palace  of  crystal 
and  diamonds.  '  It  is  there,'  he  said,  '  that  I  have 
borrowed  my  splendour.  There  is  my  dwelling-place. 
One  finer  still  is  preparing  for  you,  into  which  you  will 
soon  enter,'  The  next  day  Anselm,  after  telling  of  this 
apparition,  confessed  and  received  the  sacraments, 
though  full  of  health,  and  going  into  battle,  was  struck 
by  a  stone  in  the  forehead,  and  died  immediately. 

On  their  way  to  Tripoli,*  where  they  first  saw  the 
sugar-cane,  the  impatience  of  the  soldiers  manifested 
itself  so  strongly  that  the  chiefs  could  not  venture  to  sit 

*  While  they  were  considering  which  road  was  the  easiest  for 
their  march  to  Jerusalem,  the  Crusaders  received  a  deputation  from 
a  Christian  people,  said  to  be  sixty  thousand  in  number,  living  in 
the  mountains  of  Lebanus.  They  offered  their  sei  vices  as  guides, 
and  pointed  out  that  there  were  three  roads  :  the  first  by  way  of 
Damascus,  level  and  plain,  and  always  abound  ug  in  provisions  ; 
the  second  over  Mount  Lebanon,  safe  from  any  enemy,  and  also 
full  of  provisions,  but  difficult  for  beasts  of  burd  :n  ;  and  the  third 
by  the  sea-shore,  abounding  in  defiles,  where  '  rilty  Mussulmans 
would  be  able,  if  they  pleased,  to  stop  the  whole  of  mankind.' 
1  But,'  said  these  Christians,  '  if  you  are  of  a  verity  that  nation 
which  is  to  overcome  Jerusalem,  you  must  pass  along  the  sea-shore, 
however  difficult  that  road  may  appear,  according  to  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Peter.  Your  way,  such  as  you  have  made  ir,  and  such  as  you 
must  make  it,  is  all  laid  down  in  that  Gospel  which  we  possess.' 

What  was  this  Gospel  ?  or  is  it  only  one  of  the  credulous  stories 
of  Raymond  d' Agiles  ? 


193  JERUSALEM. 

down  before  the  place,  but  pushed  on,  after  making  a  sort 
of  treaty  with  its  governor.  Here  messengers  arrived 
from  Alexis,  entreating  them  to  wait  for  him,  and 
promising  to  bring  an  army  in  July.  But  the  time  was 
gone  by  for  negotiation  and  delay,  and  taking  the  sea- 
shore route,  by  which  they  ensured  the  protection  of 
the  fleet,  they  marched  southwards  to  Beirout.  Sidon, 
and  Tyre,  and  Acre,  were  passed  without  much  opposi- 
tion, and  the  Crusaders  arrived  at  Caesarea,  which  is 
within  sixty  miles  of  Jerusalem.  By  marches  quick 
rather  than  forced,  for  the  enthusiasm  of  the  army  was 
once  more  at  its  height,  they  reached  Lydda,  where 
the  Church  of  St.  George  lay  in  ruins,  having  recently 
been  destroyed  by  the  Turks,  and  thence  to  Ramleh. 
Here  an  embassy  from  Bethlehem  waited  for  them 
with  prayers  to  protect  their  town.  Tancred,  with  a 
hundred  knights  only,  rode  off  with  them.  The  people 
received  them  with  psalms  of  joy,  and  took  them  to  see 
the  Church  of  the  Nativity.  But  they  would  not  stay. 
Bethlehem  is  but  five  miles  from  Jerusalem,  and  Tan- 
cred rode  on  in  advance,  eager  to  be  the  first  to  see  the 
city.  He  ascended  the  Mount  of  Olives  unmolested, 
and  there  found  a  hermit,  who  pointed  out  to  him  the 
sacred  sites.  The  little  troop  rode  back  in  triumph  to 
tell  the  Crusaders  that  the  city  was  almost  within  their 
grasp.  The  soldiers,  rough  and  rude  as  they  were,  and 
stained  with  every  vice,  were  yet  open  to  the  influences 
of  this,  the  very  goal  of  their  hopes.  From  a  rising 
ground  they  beheld  at  last  the  walls  of  the  Holy  City. 
'And  when  they  heard  the  name  of  Jerusalem,  the 
Christians  could  not  prevent  themselves,  in  the  fervour 
of  their  devotion,  from  shedding  tears;  they  fell  on 
their  faces  to  the  ground,  glorifying  and  adoring  God, 
who,  in  His  goodness,  had  heard  the  prayers  of  His 


THE  CAMP  PITCHED.  199 

people,  and  had  granted  them,  according  to  their 
desires,  to  arrive  at  this  most  sacred  place,  the  object 
of  all  their  hopes.' 

The  army  which  sat  down  before  Jerusalem  num- 
bered   about   twenty  thousand   fighting    men,  and    an 
equal  number  of  camp-followers,*  old  men,  women,  and 
children.     This   was   the    miserable    remnant    of  that 
magnificent  army  of  six  hundred  thousand,  with  which 
Godfrey  had  taken  Nicsea  and  punished  the  massacre  of 
Walter  and  his  rabble.    Where  were  all  the  rest  ?    The 
road  was  strewn  with  their  bones.     Across  the  thirsty 
deserts  of  Asia  Minor,  on  the  plain  of  Dorylseum,  and 
on  the  slopes   and  passes  of  Taurus,  the   Crusaders' 
bodies  lay  unburied,  while  before  and  within  Antioch, 
the  city  of  disasters,  thousands  upon  thousands  were 
thrown  into  the  river  or  lay  in  unhallowed  soil.     But 
they  were  not  all  killed.     Many  had    returned  home, 
among  whom  were  Hugh  le  Grand  and   Stephen    of 
Blois  ;  many  had  left  the  main  body  and  gone  off  in 
free-handed  expeditions  of  their  own,  to  join  Baldwin 
and  others.     Thus  we  have  heard  of  Wolf,  the  Bur- 
gundian  conqueror  of  Adana.     Presently  we  find  that 
Guymer,  the  pirate  of  Boulogne,  who  joined  Baldwin 
at  Tarsus,  must  have  left  him  again,  and  returned  to 
his  piratical  ways,  for  we  find  him  in  prison  at  Tripoli ; 
he  was  delivered  up  by  the  governor  of  Tripoli  to  the 
Christians,  after  which    he    appears    no   more.     Then 
some  had  been  taken  prisoners,  and   purchased  their 
lives  by  apostacy,  like  Rinaldo,  the  Italian.     And  those 
of  the    captive   women   who   were    yet    young    were 
dragging  out  their  lives  in  the  Turkish  harems.     Pro- 
bably the  boys,  too,  were  spared,  and  those  who  were 
young   enough    to    forget  their    Christian  blood  were 
brought  up  to  be  soldiers  of  the  Crescent. 


JERUSALEM. 


The  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem  was  covered  with 
light  brushwood,  but  there  were  no  trees  ;  there  had 
been  grass  in  plenty,  but  it  was  dried  up  by  the  summer 
sun ;  there  were  wells  and  cisterns,  but  they  had  all 
been  closed, — 'the  fountains  were  sealed.'  Only  the 
pool  of  Siloam  was  accessible  to  the  Crusaders  ;  this 
was  intermittent  and  irregular,  and  its  supply,  when  it 
did  flow,  was  miserably  inadequate  for  a  host  of  forty 
thousand.  Moreover,  its  waters  were  brackish  and 
disagreeable.  And  the  camp  was  full  of  sick,  wounded, 
and  helpless. 

On  the  west,  east,  and  south  sides  of  the  city  no 
attack  was  possible,  on  account  of  the  valleys  by  which 
it  was  naturally  protected.  The  Crusaders  pitched 
their  camp  in  the  north.  First  in  the  post  of  danger, 
as  usual,  was  the  camp  of  Godfrey,  Duke  of  Lorraine. 
His  position  extended  westwards  from  the  valley  of 
Jehoshaphat,  along  the  north  wall.  Next  to  him  came 
the  Count  of  Flanders  ;  next,  Robert  of  Normandy, 
near  whom  was  Edgar  Atheling  with  his  English  ;  at 
the  north-west  angle  was  Tancred ;  and  lastly,  the 
camp  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  extended  along  the 
west  as  far  as  the  Jaffa  Gate.  Later  on,  however, 
Raymond  moved  a  portion  of  his  camp  to  that  part  of 
Mount  Sion  stretching  south  of  the  modern  wall.  But 
the  only  place  where  an  attacking  party  could  hope  for 
success  was  on  the  north.  Bohemond  was  not  with 
the  army.  He  cared  less  about  taking  the  city  than 
wreaking  his  vengeance  upon  the  Greek  emperor. 
Meantime,  within  the  city  was  an  army  of  forty 
thousand  men.  Provisions  for  a  long  siege  had  been 
conveyed  into  the  town  ;  the  zeal  of  the  defenders 
had  been  raised  by  the  exhortations  of  the  Imams ; 
the  walls  were  strengthened  and  the  moats  deepened. 


THIRST  AND  HEAT.  201 

Communication  and  relief  were  possible  from  the  east, 
where  only  scattered  bands  of  Christians  barred  the 
way. 

Immediately  before  the  arrival  of  the  Crusaders, 
the  Mohammedans  deliberated  whether  they  should 
slaughter  all  the  Christians  in  cold  blood,  or  only  fine 
them  and  expel  them  from  the  city.  It  was  decided 
to  adopt  the  latter  plan  ;  and  the  Crusaders  were 
greeted  on  their  arrival  not  only  by  the  flying 
squadrons  of  the  enemy's  cavalry,  but  also  by  exiled 
Christians  telling  their  piteous  tales.  The  houses  had 
been  pillaged,  their  wives  kept  as  hostages  ;  immense 
sums  were  required  for  their  ransom  ;  the  churches 
were  desecrated ;  and,  even  worse  still,  the  Infidels 
were  contemplating  the  entire  destruction  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  This  last  charge,  at 
least,  was  not  true.  But  it  added  fuel  to  a  fire  which 
was  already  beyond  any  control,  and  the  chiefs  gave  a 
ready  permission  to  men  to  carry  the  town,  if  they 
could,  by  assault.  They  had  neither  ladders  nor 
machines,  but,  covering  themselves  with  their  bucklers, 
rushed  against  the  walls  and  tried  to  tear  them  down 
with  pikes  and  hammers.  Boiling  oil  and  pitch,  the 
best  weapons  for  the  besieged,  were  poured  upon  their 
heads,  with  huge  stones  and  enormous  beams.  In 
spite  of  heavy  losses,  they  managed  to  tear  down  and 
carry  a  portion  of  the  outer  wall,  and  the  besieged  retired 
to  their  inner  works,  which  were  impregnable,  at  least 
to  hammers  and  pikes.  One  ladder,  and  only  one,  was 
found.  Tancred,  with  his  usual  hardihood,  was  the 
first  to  place  his  foot  on  the  ladder,  but  he  was  forcibly 
held  back  by  his  knights,  who  would  not  allow  him  to 
rush  upon  certain  death.  Two  or  three  gained  the 
wall,  and  were  thrown  from  it  dead.     Night  put  an  end 


202  JERUSALEM. 


to  the  fight,  and  the  Christians,  dejected  and  beaten 
back,  retired  to  their  camp.  Heaven  would  work  no 
miracle  for  them,  and  it  was  clear  that  the  city  must 
be  taken  according  to  the  ordinary  methods  of  warfare. 
Machines  were  necessary,  but  there  was  no  wood. 
Chance  threw  into  their  possession  a  cavern,  forgotten 
by  the  Saracens,  filled  with  a  store  of  timber,  which 
went  some  way.  There  were  still  some  beams  in  the 
houses  and  churches  round  Jerusalem  not  yet  burned. 
All  these  were  brought  into  the  camp,  but  still  there  was 
not  enough.  Then  a  Syrian  Christian  bethought  him 
of  a  wood  six  miles  off,  on  the  road  to  Samaria, 
whither  he  led  the  Crusaders.  The  trees  were  small, 
and  not  of  the  best  kind,  but  such  as  they  were  they 
had  to  suffice,  and  all  hands  were  employed  in  the 
construction  of  towers  and  engines  of  assault.  They 
worked  with  the  energy  of  men  who  have  but  one 
hope.  For,  in  the  midst  of  a  Syrian  summer,  with  a 
burning  sun  over  their  heads,  they  had  no  water.  The 
nearest  wells,  except  the  intermittent  spring  of  Siloam, 
were  six  or  seven  miles  away.  To  bring  the  water 
into  the  camp,  strong  detachments  were  daily  sent  out ; 
the  country  was  scoured  for  miles  in  every  direction 
for  water;  hundreds  perished  in  casual  encounters  with 
the  enemy,  while  wandering  in  search  of  wells  ;  and 
the  water,  when  it  was  procured,  was  often  so  muddy 
and  impure  that  the  very  horses  refused  to  drink  it. 
As  for  those  who  worked  in  the  camp,  they  dug  up  the 
ground  and  sucked  the  moist  earth  ;  they  cut  pieces  of 
turf  and  laid  them  at  their  hearts  to  appease  the  de- 
vouring heat ;  in  the  morning  they  licked  the  dew  from 
the  grass  ;  they  abstained  from  eating  till  they  were 
compelled  by  faintness ;  they  drank  the  blood  of  their 
beasts.      Never,    not    even    in    Antioch,    not    even    in 


THIRST  AND  HEAT.  203 

Phrygia,  had  their  sufferings  been  so  terrible,  or  so 
protracted.  And,  as  the  days  went  on,  as  the  sun  grew 
fiercer,  the  dews  more  scanty — as  the  miracle,  still 
expected,  delayed  to  come — some  lay  despairing  in 
their  tents,  some  worked  on  in  a  despairing  energy, 
and  some  threw  themselves  down  at  the  foot  of  the 
walls  to  die,  or  to  be  killed  by  the  besieged,  crying, 
'  Fall,  O  walls  of  Jerusalem,  upon  us  !  Sacred  dust 
of  the  city,  at  least  cover  our  bones  !' 

These  trials  were  to  have  an  end.  In  the  midst  of 
their  greatest  distress,  the  news  came  that  a  Genoese 
fleet  had  arrived  off  Joppa,  loaded  with  munitions  and 
provisions.  A  detachment  of  three  hundred  men  was 
sent  off  at  once  to  receive  them.  They  fought  their 
way  to  Joppa.  Here  they  found  that  the  Christian 
ships  had  been  abandoned  to  a  superior  Egyptian  fleet, 
but  not  till  after  all  the  stores  and  provisions  had  been 
landed.  With  the  fleet  was  a  large  number  of 
Genoese  artificers  and  carpenters,  whose  arrival  in  the 
camp  was  almost  as  timely  as  that  of  the  wine  and  food. 

The  hopes  of  the  Crusaders,  always  as  sanguine  as 
they  were  easily  dejected,  revived  again.  This  unex- 
pected reinforcement — was  it  not  a  miracle  ?  and  might 
there  not  be  others  yet  to  follow  ?  Gaston  of  Beam 
superintended  the  construction  of  the  machines.  In 
the  carriage  of  their  timber,  as  they  had  no  carts  or 
wheels,  they  employed  their  Saracen  prisoners.  Putting 
fifty  or  sixty  of  them  in  line,  they  made  them  carry 
beams  '  which  four  oxen  could  not  drag.'  Raymond  of 
Toulouse,  who  alone  had  not  spent  all  he  had  brought 
with  him,  found  the  money  to  pay  those  few  who  were 
exempted  from  gratuitous  service.  A  regular  service  for 
the  carriage  of  water  was  organized,  and  some  allevia- 
tion thus  afforded  to  the  sufferings  caused  by  thirst. 


204  JERUSALEM. 


Three  great  towers  were  made,  higher  than  the 
walls.  Each  of  these  was  divided  into  three  stages ; 
the  lowest  for  the  workmen,  and  the  two  higher  for  the 
soldiers.  The  front  and  sides  exposed  to  the  enemy 
were  cased  with  plates  of  iron,  or  defended  by  wet 
hides  ;  the  back  part  was  of  wood.  On  the  top  was 
a  sort  of  drawbridge,  which  could  be  lowered  so  as  to 
afford  a  passage  to  the  wall. 

All  being  ready,  it  was  determined  to  preface  the 
attack  by  a  processional  march  round  the  city.  After 
a  fast  of  three  days  and  solemn  services,  the  Crusaders 
solemnly  went  in  procession,  barefooted  and  bare- 
headed, round  the  city.  They  were  preceded  by  their 
priests  in  white  surplices,  carrying  the  images  of  saints, 
and  chanting  psalms  ;  their  banners  were  displayed, 
the  clarions  blew.  As  the  Israelites  marched  round 
Jericho,  the  Crusaders  marched  round  Jerusalem,  and 
doubtless  many  longing  eyes,  though  more  in  doubt 
than  in  hope,  were  turned  upon  the  walls  to  see  if  they, 
too,  would  fall.  They  did  not.  The  besieged  crowded 
upon  them,  holding  crosses,  which  they  insulted,  and 
discharging  their  arrows  at  the  procession.  But  the 
hearts  of  the  rough  soldiers  were  moved  to  the  utmost, 
not  by  the  taunts  of  their  enemies,  but  by  the  sight  of 
the  sacred  spots,  and  the  memory  of  the  things  which 
had  taken  place  there  :  there  was  Calvary  ;  here  Geth- 
semane,  where  Christ  prayed  and  wept ;  here  the  place 
where  He  ascended ;  here  the  spot  on  which  He  stood 
while  He  wept  over  the  city.  They,  too,  could  see  it 
lying  at  their  feet,  with  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  the  Great  Mosque  in  the  midst  of  the 
place  where  had  been  the  Temple  of  the  Lord.  These 
places  cried  aloud  to  them  for  deliverance.  Or,  if  they 
looked  behind  them,  to  the  east,  they  saw  the  banks  of 


PROCESSIONAL  MARCH. 


205 


the  river  across  which  Joshua  had  passed,  and  the 
Dead  Sea  which  lay  above  the  Cities  of  the  Plain. 

Arnold,  chaplain  to  Duke  Robert  of  Normandy — an 
eloquent  man,  but  of  dissolute  morals  —  harangued 
them.  His  discourse  has  been  preserved  after  the 
manner  of  historians  ;  that  is,  we  are  told  what  he 
ought  to  have  said  ;  very  likely,  in  substance,  what  he 
did  say.  God,  he  told  them,  would  pardon  them  all 
sins  in  recompense  for  their  recovery  of  the  holy 
places.  And  he  made  the  chiefs  themselves,  who 
had  sinned  by  quarrelling  and  dissension,  embrace  in 
presence  of  the  whole  army,  and  thereby  set  the 
example  of  perfect  union.  Then  they  renewed,  for  the 
last  time,  their  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  Cross.  Peter 
the  Hermit,  who  was  with  them,  harangued  them 
also.  And  in  the  evening  the  soldiers  returned  to  the 
camp  to  confess  their  sins,  to  receive  the  Eucharist, 
and  to  spend  the  night  in  prayer. 

Godfrey  alone  was  active.  He  perceived  that  the 
Saracens  had  constructed  on  the  wall  opposite  to  the 
position  of  his  great  tower  works  which  would  perhaps 
render  it  useless.  He  therefore  took  it  down,  and 
transported  it,  with  very  great  labour,  and  in  a  single 
night,  to  a  spot  which  he  considered  the  weakest  in  the 
north  wall.  Here  it  was  re-erected,  to  the  dismay  of 
the  besieged. 

At  break  of  day  on  Thursday,  July  14th,  1099,  the 
attack  began.  The  towers  were  moved  against  the 
walls,  the  mangonels  hurled  their  stones  into  the  city, 
and  the  battering-rams  were  brought  into  play.  All 
day  long  the  attack  was  carried  on,  but  to  little  effect, 
and  at  nightfall,  when  the  Crusaders  returned  to  their 
camp,  the  tower  of  Raymond  was  in  ruins  ;  those  of 
Tancred    and    Godfrey   were    so    damaged    that    they 


2o6  JERUSALEM. 


could  not  be  moved ;  and  the  princes  were  seen  beating 
their  hands  in  despair,  and  crying  that  God  had 
abandoned  them.  '  Miserable  men  that  we  are  !'  cried 
Robert  of  Normandy  ;  '  God  judges  us  unworthy  to 
enter  into  the  Holy  City,  and  worship  at  the  tomb  of 
His  Son.' 

The  next  day  was  Friday,  the  day  of  the  Crucifixion. 
At  daybreak  the  battle  began  again.  It  went  well  for 
the  Crusaders  ;  the  wall  was  broken  in  many  places, 
and  the  besieged  with  all  their  endeavours  could  not  set 
fire  to  the  towers.  In  the  middle  of  the  day  they 
brought  out  two  magicians — witches,  it  is  said,  though 
one  hardly  believes  it.  They  made  their  incantations 
on  the  walls,  attended  by  their  maidens.*  These  were 
all  destroyed  at  once  by  stones  from  the  mangonels. 
But  the  day  went  on,  and  the  final  assault  could  not  be 
delivered  for  the  courage  and  ferocity  of  the  Saracens. 
And  then,  the  usual  miracle  happened.  Godfrey  and 
Raymond,  shouting  that  heaven  had  come  to  their 
rescue,  pointed  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  where  stood  a 
man,  '  miles  splendidus  et  refulgens,'  one  clothed  in 
bright  and  glittering  armour,  waving  his  shield  as  a 
signal  for  the  advance.  Who  could  it  be  but  St. 
George  himself?  In  the  midst  of  a  shower  of  arrows, 
Greek  fire,  and  stones,  the  tower  of  Godfrey  was 
pushed  against  the  wall :  the  drawbridge  fell ;  Godfrey 
himself  was  among  the  first  to  leap  upon  the  wall. 
And  then  the  rumour  ran,  that  not  only  St.  George, 
but  Bishop  Adhemar — dead  Bishop  Adhemar  himself 
— was  in  the  ranks,  and  fighting  against  the  Infidel. 
The  supreme  moment  was  arrived  !  A  whisper  went 
through  the  troops  that  it  was  now  three  o'clock  ;    the 

*  Robert  of  Normandy  might  have  remembered  that  a  similar 
plan  had  been  adopted  by  his  father  against  Hereward  in  Ely. 


PLUNDER  AND  PRAYERS.  207 

time,  as  well  as  the  day,  when  our  Lord  died,  on  the 
very  spot  where  they  were  fighting.  Even  the  women 
and  children  joined  in  the  attack,  and  mingled  their 
cries  with  the  shouts  of  the  soldiers.  The  Saracens 
gave  way,  and  Jerusalem  was  taken. 

The  city  was  taken,  and  the  massacre  of  its  defenders 
began.      The     Christians    ran    through    the    streets, 
slaughtering  as  they  went.     At  first  they  spared  none, 
neither  man,  woman,  nor  child,  putting  all  alike  to  the 
sword  ;    but  when  resistance  had  ceased,  and  rage  was 
partly  appeased,  they  began  to  bethink  them  of  pillage, 
and  tortured  those  who  remained  alive  to  make  them 
discover  their  gold.     As  for  the  Jews  within  the  city, 
they  had  fled  to  their  synagogue,  which  the  Christians 
set  on  fire,  and  so  burned  them  all.     The  chroniclers 
relate  with  savage  joy  how  the  streets  were  encumbered 
with  heads  and  mangled  bodies,  and  how  in  the  Haram 
Area,  the  sacred  enclosure  of  the  Temple,  the  knights 
rode  in  blood  up  to  the  knees  of  their  horses.     Here 
upwards  of  ten  thousand  were  slaughtered,  while  the 
whole  number  of  killed  amounted,  according  to  various 
estimates,    to    forty,    seventy,    and    even    a    hundred 
thousand.     An  Arabic  historian,  not  to  be  outdone  in 
miracles  by  the  Christians,  reports  that  at  the  moment 
when  the  city  fell,  a  sudden  eclipse  took  place,  and  the 
stars    appeared   in   the    day.       Fugitives  brought   the 
news  to   Damascus  and  Baghdad.      It   was  then  the 
month  of  Ramadan,  but  the  general  trouble  was  such 
that  the   very  fast    was    neglected.     No  greater    mis- 
fortune, except,  perhaps,  the  loss  of  Mecca,  could  have 
happened  to  Islamism.     The  people  went  in  masses  to 
the  mosques  :  the  poets  made  their  verses  of  lamenta- 
tion :     '  We  have   mingled  our  blood  with  our  tears. 
No  refuge  remains  against  the  woes  that  overpower  us. 


2o8  JERUSALEM. 

.  .  .  How  can  ye  close  your  eyes,  children  of  Islam,  in 
the  midst  of  troubles  which  would  rouse  the  deepest 
sleeper  ?  Will  the  chiefs  of  the  Arabs  resign  themselves 
to  such  evils  ?  and  will  the  warriors  of  Persia  submit  to 
such  disgrace  ?  Would  to  God,  since  they  will  not 
fight  for  their  religion,  that  they  would  fight  for  the 
safety  of  their  neighbours  !  And  if  they  give  up  the 
rewards  of  heaven,  will  they  not  be  induced  to  fight  by 
the  hope  of  booty  ?'* 

Evening  fell,  and  the  clamour  ceased,  for  there  were 
no  more  enemies  to  kill,  save  a  few  whose  lives  had 
been  promised  by  Tancred.  Then  from  their  hiding- 
places  in  the  city  came  out  the  Christians  who  still 
remained  in  it.  They  had  but  one  thought,  to  seek  out 
and  welcome  Peter  the  Hermit,  whom  they  proclaimed 
as  their  liberator.  At  the  sight  of  these  Christians,  a 
sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  seized  the  soldiers.  They 
remembered  that  the  city  they  had  taken  was  the  city 
of  the  Lord,  and  this  impulsive  soldiery,  sheathing 
swords  reeking  with  blood,  followed  Godfrey  to  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  they  passed  the 
night  in  tears,  and  prayers,  and  services. 

In  the  morning  the  carnage  began  again.  Those 
who  had  escaped  the  first  fury  were  the  women  and 
children.  It  was  now  resolved  to  spare  none.  Even 
the  three  hundred  to  whom  Tancred  had  promised  life 
were  slaughtered  in  spite  of  him.  Raymond  alone 
managed  to  save  the  lives  of  those  who  capitulated  to 
him  from  the  tower  of  David.  It  took  a  week  to  kill 
the  Saracens,  and  to  take  away  their  dead  bodies. 
Every  Crusader  had  a  right  to  the  first  house  he 
took  possession  of,  and  the  city  found  itself  absolutely 

*  From  a  poem  by  Mozaffer  el  Abiwardf. 


PLUNDER  AND  PRAYERS.  2c9 

cleared  of  its  old  inhabitants,  and  in  the  hands  of  a 
new  population.  The  True  Cross,  which  had  been 
hidden  by  the  Christians  during  the  siege,  was  brought 
forth  again,  and  carried  in  joyful  procession  round  the 
city,  and  for  ten  days  the  soldiers  gave  themselves  up 
to  murder,  plunder — and  prayers  ! 
And  the  First  Crusade  was  finished. 


14 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    CHRISTIAN    KINGDOM. — KING   GODFREY. 
A.D.     IO99 — IIOO. 

Signor,  ceste  cite"  vous  l'avez  conqueste  ; 
Or  faut  elire  un  roi  dont  elle  soit  gardde, 
Et  la  terre  environ  des  paiens  recense'e. 

Romans  de  Godefroi. 

For  seven  days  after  the  conquest  of  the  city  and  the 
massacre  of  the  inhabitants,  the  Crusaders,  very  natur- 
ally, abandoned  themselves  to  rest,  feasting,  and  services 
of  thanksgiving.  On  the  eighth  day  a  council  was  held, 
to  determine  the  future  mode  of  holding  and  governing 
their  newly-acquired  possessions.  At  the  outset  a 
remonstrance  was  presented  by  the  priests,  jealous 
as  usual  of  their  supremacy,  against  secular  matters 
being  permitted  to  take  the  lead  of  things  ecclesi- 
astical, and  demanding  that,  before  aught  else  was 
done,  a  Patriarch  should  be  first  elected.  But  the 
Christians  were  a  long  way  from  Rome.  The  conduct 
of  their  priests  on  their  journey  had  not  been  such  as 
to  inspire  the  laity  with  respect  for  their  valour, 
prudence,  or  morality,  and  the  chiefs  dismissed  the 
remonstrance  with  contempt. 

Robert  of  Flanders,  in  this  important  council,  was 
the  first  to  speak.  He  called  upon  his  peers,  setting 
aside  all  jealousies  and  ambitions,  to  elect  from  their 
own  body  one  who  might  be  found  to  unite  the  best 


CHOICE  OF  A  KING.  21  r 

valour  of  a  knight  with  the  best  virtue  of  a  Christian. 
And  in  a  noble  speech  which  has  been  preserved — if, 
indeed,  it  was  not  written  long  after  the  time — he 
disclaimed,  for  his  own  part,  any  desire  to  canvass 
their  votes,  or  to  become  the  King  of  Jerusalem.  '  I 
entreat  you  to  receive  my  counsel  as  I  give  it  you,  with 
affection,  frankness,  and  loyalty  ;  and  to  elect  for  king 
him  who,  by  his  own  worth,  will  best  be  able  to  preserve 
and  extend  this  kingdom,  to  which  are  attached  the 
honour  of  your  arms  and  the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ.' 

Many  had  begun  to  think  of  offering  the  crown  to 
Robert  himself.  But  this  was  not  his  wish ;  and 
among  the  rest  their  choice  clearly  lay  between 
Godfrey,  Robert  of  Normandy,  Raymond  of  Toulouse, 
and  Tancred.  Of  these,  Tancred  and  Robert  were 
men  ambitious  of  glory  rather  than  of  honours.  The 
latter  had  thrown  away  the  crown  of  England  once, 
and  was  going  to  throw  it  away  again.  With  equal 
readiness  he  threw  away  the  crown  of  Jerusalem. 
Raymond,  who  had  sworn  never  to  return  to  Europe, 
was  old  and  unpopular,  probably  from  the  absence  of 
the  princely  munificence  and  affability  that  distin- 
guished Godfrey,  perhaps  also  from  lack  of  those 
personal  charms  which  his  rival  possessed.  To  be 
handsome  as  well  as  brave  was  given  to  Godfrey, 
but  if  it  had  ever  been  given  to  Raymond,  his  day  of 
comeliness  was  past.  A  sort  of  committee  of  ten  was 
appointed,  whose  business  it  was  to  examine  closely 
into  the  private  character  of  the  chiefs,  as  well  as  into 
their  prowess.  History  is  prudently  silent  as  to  the 
reports  made  on  the  characters  of  the  rest,  but  we 
know  what  was  said  about  Godfrey.  Though  the 
Provencal  party  invented  calumnies  against  him,  his 
own  servants  were  explicit  and  clear  in  their  evidence. 

14—2 


212  JERUSALEM. 


Nothing  whatever  could  be  set  down  against  him. 
Pure  and  unsullied  in  his  private  life,  he  came  out  of 
this  ordeal  with  no  other  accusation  against  him,  by 
those  who  were  with  him  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night,  but  one,  and  that  the  most  singular  complaint 
ever  brought  against  a  prince  by  his  servants.  They 
stated  that  in  all  the  private  acts  of  the  duke,  the  one 
which  they  found  most  vexatious  (absonum)  was  that 
when  he  went  into  a  church  he  could  not  be  got  out  of 
it,  even  after  the  celebration  of  service ;  but  he  was 
used  to  stay  behind  and  inquire  of  the  priests  and  those 
who  seemed  to  have  any  knowledge  of  the  matter, 
about  the  meaning  and  history  of  each  picture  and 
image :  his  companions,  being  otherwise  minded,  were 
affected  with  continual  tedium,  and  even  disgust  at 
this  conduct,  which  was  certainly  thoughtless,  because 
the  meals,  cooked,  of  course,  in  readiness  for  a  certain 
hour,  were  often,  owing  to  this  exasperating  delay, 
served  up  cold  and  tasteless.  There  is  a  touch  of 
humour  in  the  grave  way  in  which  this  charge  is 
brought  forward  by  the  historian,  who  evidently  enjoys 
the  picture  of  Godfrey's  followers  standing  by  and 
waiting,  while  their  faces  grow  longer  as  they  think  of 
the  roast,  which  is  certain  to  be  either  coid  or  over- 
done. 

No  one  was  astonished,  and  most  men  rejoiced, 
when  the  electors  declared  that  their  choice  had  fallen 
upon  Godfrey.  They  conducted  him  in  solemn  pro- 
cession to  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  with  hymns 
and  psalms.  Here  he  took  an  oath  to  respect  the  laws 
of  justice,  but  when  the  coronation  should  have  taken 
place,  Godfrey  put  away  the  crown.  He  would  not 
wear  a  crown  of  gold  when  his  Lord  had  worn  a  crown 
of  thorns.     Nor  would   he  take  the  title  of  king.     Of 


GODEFROI  DE  BOUILLON.  213 

this,  he  said,  he  was  not  worthy.  Let  them  call  him 
the  Baron  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  He  never  wore  the 
crown,  but  the  voice  of  posterity  has  always  given  him 
the  name  of  king. 

Godfrey  of  Lorraine,  born  at  Boulogne  in  the  year 
1058,  or  thereabouts,  was  the  son  of  Count  Eustace, 
and  the  nephew  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine.  His  brother 
Baldwin,  who  came  with  him  as  far  as  Asia  Minor,  but 
separated  then  from  the  Crusaders  and  gained  the 
principality  of  Edessa,  was  the  second  son.  Eustace, 
who  afterwards  became  Count  of  Boulogne,  was  the 
third.  And  his  sister,  Matilda,  was  the  wife  of  our 
King  Stephen. 

The  story  of  Godfrey,  who  is  the  real  hero  of  the 
First  Crusade,  is  made  up  of  facts,  visions,  and  legends. 
Let  us  tell  them  altogether. 

At  an  early  age  he  was  once  playing  with  his  two 
brothers,  when  his  father  entered  the  room.  At  that 
moment  the  children  were  all  hiding  in  the  folds  of 
their  mother's  dress.  Count  Eustace,  seeing  the  dress 
shaken,  asked  who  was  behind  it.  '  There,'  replied  the 
Lady  Ida,  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  '  are  three  great 
princes.  The  first  shall  be  a  duke,  the  second  a  king, 
and  the  third  a  count,'  a  prediction  which  was  after- 
wards exactly  fulfilled.  Unfortunately,  no  record  exists 
of  this  prophecy  till  nearly  a  hundred  years  after  it  was 
made.  Godfrey  was  adopted  by  his  uncle,  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  and,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  joined  the  fortunes 
of  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.  He  fought  in  all  the  cam- 
paigns of  that  unquiet  sovereign  ;  he  it  was  who,  at  the 
battle  of  Malsen,  carried  the  Imperial  banner,  and 
signalized  himself  by  killing  Rudolph  of  Swabia  with 
his  own  hand.  He  was  present  when,  after  three 
years'  siege,  Henry  succeeded  in  wresting  Rome  from 


214  JERUSALEM. 


Hildebrand,  in  1083,  and  in  reward  for  his  bravery  on 
that  occasion,  he  received  the  duchy  of  Lorraine  when 
it  was  forfeited  by  the  defection  of  Conrad.  An  illness, 
some  time  after,  caused  him  to  vow  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Holy  Land,  and  until  the  Crusade  started  Godfrey  had 
no  rest  or  peace. 

During  this  period  of  expectation,  a  vision,  related 
by  Albert  of  Aix,  came  to  one  of  his  servants.  He  saw, 
like  Jacob,  a  ladder  which  was  all  pure  gold,  ascending 
from  earth  to  heaven.  Godfrey,  followed  by  his  servant 
Rothard,  was  mounting  this  ladder.  Rothard  had  a 
lamp  in  his  hand ;  in  the  middle  of  the  ascent  the 
lamp  went  out  suddenly.  Dismayed  at  this  accident, 
Rothard  came  down  the  ladder,  and  declined  to  relight 
his  lamp  or  to  climb  up  again.  Godfrey,  however,  un- 
daunted, went  on.  Then  the  seer  of  the  vision  himself 
took  the  lamp  and  followed  his  master ;  both  arrived 
safely  at  the  top,  and  there,  which  was  no  other  place 
than  Heaven  itself,  they  enjoyed  the  favours  of  God. 
The  ladder  was  of  pure  gold,  to  signify  that  pilgrims 
must  have  pure  hearts,  and  the  gate  to  which  it  led 
was  Jerusalem,  the  gate  of  heaven.  Rothard,  whose 
light  went  out  half  way,  who  came  down  in  despair, 
was  an  image  of  those  pilgrims  who  take  the  Cross  but 
come  back  again  in  despair ;  and  he  who  saw  the 
vision  and  went  up  with  Godfrey  typified  those 
Crusaders,  a  faithful  few,  who  endured  unto  the  end. 

Stories  are  told  to  illustrate  the  prowess  of  this  great 
and  strong  man.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  com- 
pelled to  defend  his  rights  to  some  land  by  the  ordeal 
of  battle,  his  sword  broke  off  short  upon  the  buckler  of 
his  adversary,  leaving  him  not  more  than  six  inches  of 
steel.  The  knights  present  at  the  duel  interposed  in 
order  to  stop  a  combat  so  unequal,  but  Godfrey  himself 


THE  TRUE  CROSS.  215 

insisted  on  going  on.  His  adversary  pressed  him  with 
all  his  skill  and  strength,  but  Godfrey,  collecting  all  his 
force,  sprang  upon  and  literally  felled  him  to  the 
ground.  Then,  taking  his  sword  from  him,  he  broke 
it  across  his  knee,  and  called  upon  the  president  of  the 
duel  to  make  such  terms  as  would  spare  his  enemy's 
life. 

Again,  a  noble  Arab,  desirous  of  seeing  so  great  a 
warrior,  paid  him  a  visit,  and  asked  him,  as  a  special 
favour,  to  strike  a  camel  with  his  sword.  Godfrey,  at 
a  single  blow,  struck  off  the  head  of  the  beast.  The 
Arab  begged  to  speak  apart  with  him,  thinking  it  was 
the  effect  of  magic,  and  asked  him  if  he  would  do  the 
same  thing  with  another  sword.  '  Len  1  me  your  own,' 
said  Godfrey,  and  repeated  the  feat  with  his  guest's 
own  sword. 

At  the  time  of  his  election,  Godfrey  was  in  the  fulness 
of  his  strength  and  vigour,  about  forty  years  of  age. 
He  was  tall,  but  not  above  the  stature  of  ordinarily  tall 
men;  his  countenance  was  handsome  and  attractive; 
and  his  beard  and  hair  were  a  reddish  brown.  In 
manners  he  was  courteous,  and  in  living,  simple  and 
unostentatious.  The  first  king  of  Christian  Jerusalem, 
the  only  one  of  all  the  Crusaders  whose  life  was  pure, 
whose  motives  were  disinterested,  whose  end  and  aim 
was  the  glory  of  God,  was  also  the  only  king  who 
came  near  the  standard  set  up  by  Robert  of  Flanders, 
as  one  who  should  be  foremost  in  virtues  as  well  as 
in  arms.  The  kingdom  over  which  he  ruled  was  a 
kingdom  without  frontiers,  save  those  which  the  sword 
had  made.  Right  and  left  of  the  path  of  the  Crusaders 
between  Csesarea  and  Jerusalem,  the  Saracens  had 
fallen  back  in  terror  of  the  advancing  army.  The 
space  left  free  was  all  that  Godfrey  could  call  his  own. 


216  JERUSALEM. 


To  the  north,  Bohemond  held  Antioch,  Baldwin 
Edessa,  and  Tancred  was  soon  to  occupy  Galilee. 
Egypt  threatened  in  the  south,  wild  Bedawin  in  the 
east,  and  on  the  north  and  north-west  were  gathering, 
disorganized  as  yet,  but  soon  to  assume  the  form  of 
armies,  the  fanatic  Mohammedans,  maddened  by  their 
loss.  It  must  be  remembered  that  during  the  whole 
eighty  years  of  its  existence  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem 
was  never  for  one  single  moment  free  from  war  and 
war's  alarms. 

At  this  time  the  joy  of  the  soldiers  was  increased  by 
the  announcement  made  by  a  Christian  inhabitant  of 
Jerusalem  that  he  had  buried  in  the  city,  before  the 
Crusaders  came,  a  cross  which  contained  a  piece  of  the 
True  Cross.  This  relic  was  dug  up  after  a  solemn 
procession,  and  borne  in  state  to  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  where  it  was  intrusted  to  the  care  of 
Arnold,  who  had  been  appointed  to  act  in  the  place  of 
the  patriarch.  The  appetite  for  relics  had  grown  en 
mangeant.  Besides  the  holy  lance,  and  this  piece  of 
the  True  Cross,  every  knight,  almost  every  common 
Soldier,  had  been  enabled  to  enrich  himself  with  some- 
thing precious — a  bone  or  a  piece  of  cloth,  which  had 
once  belonged  to  a  saint,  a  nail  which  had  helped  to 
crucify  him,  or  the  axe  which  had  beheaded  him.  And 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  possession  of  these 
relics  most  materially  helped  to  inspire  them  with 
courage. 

While  the  princes  were  still  deliberating  over  the 
choice  of  a  king,  came  the  news  that  the  Egyptian  Caliph 
had  assembled  together  a  vast  army,  which  was  even 
then  marching  across  the  desert  under  the  command 
of  a  renegade  Armenian  named  Afdhal.  He  it  was 
who  had  taken  Jerusalem  from  the  Turks  only  eleven 


BATTLE  OF  ASCALON.  217 

months  before  the  siege  by  the  Crusaders.  The  army 
contained  not  only  the  flower  of  the  Egyptian  troops, 
but  also  many  thousands  of  Mohammedan  warriors 
from  Damascus  and  Baghdad,  eager  to  wipe  out  the 
disgrace  of  their  defeats. 

Tancred,  Count  Eustace  of  Boulogne,  and  Robert  of 
Flanders,  sent  forward  to  reconnoitre,  despatched  a 
messenger  to  Jerusalem  with  the  news  that  this  in- 
numerable army  was  on  its  way,  and  would  be,  within 
a  few  days,  at  the  very  gates  of  the  city.  The  intelli- 
gence was  proclaimed  by  heralds  through  the  city,  and 
at  daybreak  the  princes  went  bare-footed  to  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  they  received  the  Eu- 
charist before  setting  out  on  their  way  to  Ascalon. 
Peter  the  Hermit  remained  in  charge  of  the  women 
and  children,  whom  he  led  round  in  solemn  procession 
to  the  sacred  sites,  there  to  pray  for  the  triumph  of 
the  Christian  arms.  Even  at  this  solemn  moment, 
when  the  fate  of  the  newly-born  kingdom  trembled  on 
the  decision  of  a  single  battle,  the  chiefs  could  not 
abstain  from  dissensions.  At  the  last  moment,  Robert 
of  Normandy  and  Count  Raymond  declared  that  they 
would  not  go  with  the  army ;  the  former  because  his 
vow  was  accomplished,  the  latter  because  he  was  still 
sullen  over  the  decision  of  the  electors.  But  by  the 
entreaties  of  their  soldiers  they  were  persuaded  to 
yield.  The  Christian  army  collected  in  its  full  force  at 
Ramleh,  attended  by  Arnold  with  the  True  Cross, 
whence  they  came  to  the  Wady  Sorek. 

The  battle  took  place  on  the  plain  of  Philistia,  that 
lovely  and  fertile  plain  which  was  to  be  reddened  with 
blood  in  a  hundred  fights  between  the  Christians  and 
their  foes. 

The  Christian  army  had  been  followed  into  the  plain 


218  JERUSALEM. 


by  thousands  of  the  cattle  which  were  grazing  harm- 
lessly over  the  country.  The  dust  raised  by  the  march 
of  the  men  and  beasts  hung  in  clouds  over  these  flocks 
and  made  the  Egyptian  army  take  them  for  countless 
squadrons  of  cavalry.  Hasty  arrangements  were 
made.  Godfrey  took  two  thousand  horse  and  three 
thousand  foot  to  prevent  a  sortie  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Ascalon  ;  Raymond  placed  himself  near  the  seashore, 
between  the  fleet  and  the  enemy;  Tancred  and  the 
two  Roberts  directed  the  attack  on  the  centre  and  right 
wing.  In  the  first  rank  of  the  enemy  were  lines  of 
African  bowmen,  black  Ethiopians,  terrible  of  visage, 
uttering  unearthly  cries,  and  wielding,  besides  their 
bows,  strange  and  unnatural  weapons,  such  as  flails 
loaded  with  iron  balls,  with  which  they  beat  upon  the 
armour  of  the  knights  and  strove  to  kill  the  horses. 
The  Christians  charged  into  the  thickest  of  these  black 
warriors,  taking  them  probably  for  real  devils,  whom  it 
was  a  duty  as  well  as  a  pleasure  to  destroy.  A  panic 
seized  the  Mohammedans ;  Robert  Courthose,  always 
foremost  in  the  melee,  found  himself  in  the  presence 
of  Afdhal  himself,  and  seized  the  grand  standard.  And 
then  the  Egyptians  all  fled.  Those  who  got  to  the  sea- 
shore fell  into  the  hands  of  Raymond,  who  killed  all, 
except  some  who  tried  to  swim,  and  were  drowned  in 
their  endeavours  to  reach  their  fleet ;  some  rushed  in 
the  direction  of  Ascalon  and  climbed  up  into  the  trees, 
where  the  Christians  picked  them  off  with  arrows  at 
their  leisure  ;  and  some,  laying  down  their  arms  in 
despair,  sat  still  and  offered  no  resistance,  while  the 
Christians  came  up  and  cut  their  throats.  Afdhal, 
who  lost  his  sword  in  the  rout,  fled  into  Ascalon,  and 
two  thousand  of  his  men,  crowding  after  him,  were 
trampled  under  foot  at  the  gates.     From  the  towers  of 


BATTLE  OF  ASCALON.  219 

Ascalon  he  beheld  the  total  rout  and  massacre  of  his 
splendid  army  and  the  sack  of  his  camp.  '  Oh, 
Mohammed,'  cried  the  despairing  renegade,  '  can  it  be 
true  that  the  power  of  the  Crucified  One  is  greater 
than  thine  ?'  Afdhal  embarked  on  board  the  Egyptian 
fleet  and  returned  alone.  No  one  has  told  what  was 
the  loss  sustained  by  the  Mohammedans  in  this  battle. 
They  were  mown  down,  it  is  said,  like  the  wheat  in  the 
field  ;  and  those  who  escaped  the  sword  perished  in  the 
desert. 

It  is  well  observed  by  Michault,  that  this  is  the  first 
battle  won  by  the  Christians  in  which  the  saints  took 
no  part.  Henceforth  St.  George  appears  no  more. 
The  enthusiasm  of  the  soldiers  was  kindled  by  religious 
zeal,  but  it  is  kept  alive  henceforth  by  success.  When 
success  began  to  fail,  religion  could  do  nothing  more 
for  them. 

Raymond  and  Godfrey  quarrelled  immediately  after 
the  battle  about  the  right  of  conquest  over  Ascalon, 
which  Raymond  wished  to  take  for  himself,  and  God- 
frey claimed  as  his  own.  Raymond,  in  high  dudgeon, 
withdrew,  and  took  off  all  his  troops,  like  Achilles. 
Godfrey  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  of  Ascalon,  and 
followed  him.  On  the  way  Raymond  attacked  the 
town  of  Arsuf,  but  meeting  with  a  more  determined 
resistance  than  he  anticipated,  he  continued  his  march, 
maliciously  informing  the  garrison  that  they  had  no 
reason  to  be  afraid  of  King  Godfrey.  Consequently, 
when  Godfrey  arrived,  they  were  not  afraid  of  him, 
and  gave  him  so  warm  a  reception  that  he  was  obliged 
to  give  up  the  siege,  and  learning  the  trick  that  Raymond 
had  played  him,  flew  into  so  mighty  a  passion,  that  he 
resolved  to  terminate  the  quarrel  according  to  Euro- 
pean fashion.     Tancred  and  the  two  Roberts  used  all 


220  JERUSALEM. 


their  efforts  to  appease  the  two  princes,  and  a  recon- 
ciliation was  effected  between  them.  What  is  more 
important  is,  that  the  reconciliation  was  loyal  and 
sincere.  Raymond  gave  up  all  his  schemes  of  ambi- 
tion in  Jerusalem  ;  ceded  all  pretensions  to  the  tower 
of  David,  over  which  he  had  claimed  rights  of  conquest, 
and  so  long  as  he  lived  was  a  loyal  supporter  of  the 
kingdom  which  he  had  so  nearly  obtained  for  himself. 
But  Ascalon  remained  untaken,  a  thorn  in  the  sides  of 
the  conquerors  for  many  years  to  follow,  and  a  standing 
reminder  of  the  necessity  of  concord. 

The  army  returned  to  Jerusalem  singing  hymns  of 
triumph,  and  entered  the  city  with  sound  of  clarion  and 
display  of  their  victorious  banner.  The  grand  standard 
and  the  sword  of  Afdhal  were  deposited  in  the  Church 
of  the  Sepulchre  ;  and  a  great  service  of  thanksgiving 
was  held  for  their  deliverance  from  the  Egyptians. 

And  then  the  princes  began  to  think  of  going  home 
again.  They  had  now  been  four  years  away.  Their 
vow  was  fulfilled.  Jerusalem  was  freed  from  the  yoke 
of  the  Mussulman,  and  they  could  no  longer  be 
restrained.  Three  hundred  knights  and  two  thousand 
foot-soldiers  alone  resolved  to  stay  with  Godfrey  and 
share  his  fortunes.  Among  them  was  Tancred,  almost 
as  great  a  Christian  hero  as  Godfrey  himself.  '  Forget 
not,'  those  who  remained  cried  with  tears — these 
knights  were  not  ashamed  to  show  their  emotion — to 
those  who  went  away,  '  forget  not  your  brethren  whom 
you  leave  in  exile  ;  when  you  get  back  to  Europe,  fill  all 
Christians  with  the  desire  of  visiting  those  sacred  places 
which  we  have  delivered ;  exhort  the  warriors  to  come 
and  fight  the  infidels  by  our  side.' 

So  went  back  the  Crusaders,  bearing  each  a  palm- 
branch  from  Jericho,  in  proof  of  the  accomplishment  of 


RETURN  OF  THE  CRUSADERS.  221 

their  pilgrimage.  It  was  but  a  small  and  miserable 
remnant  which  returned  of  those  mighty  hosts  which, 
four  years  before,  had  left  the  West.  There  was  not  a 
noble  family  of  France  but  had  lost  its  sons  in  the 
great  war  ;  there  was  not  a  woman  who  had  not  some- 
one near  and  dear  to  her  lying  dead  upon  the  plains  of 
Syria ;  not  even  a  monk  who  had  not  to  mourn  a 
brother  in  the  flesh  or  a  brother  of  the  convent. 
Great,  then,  must  have  been  the  rejoicing  over  those 
who  had  been  through  all  the  dangers  of  the  campaign, 
and  now  returned  bringing  their  sheaves  with  them  ; — 
not  of  gold,  for  they  had  none  ;  nor  of  rich  raiment,  for 
they  were  in  rags — but  of  glory,  and  honour,  and  of 
precious  relics,  better  in  their  simple  eyes  than  any 
gold,  and  more  priceless  than  any  jewels.  With  these 
and  their  palm-branches  they  enriched  and  decorated 
native  churches,  and  the  sight  of  them  kept  alive 
the  crusading  ardour  even  when  the  first  soldiers  were 
all  dead. 

Raymond  of  Toulouse  went  first  to  Constanti- 
nople, where  Alexis  received  him  with  honour, 
and  gave  him  the  principality  of  Laodicea.  Eustace 
of  Boulogne  went  back  to  his  patrimony,  leav- 
ing his  brother  in  Palestine.  Robert  of  Flanders 
went  home  to  be  drowned  in  the  Marne.  Robert  of 
Normandy,  to  eat  out  his  heart  in  Cardiff  Castle. 
Bohemond,  Tancred,  and  Baldwin,  with  Raymond, 
remained  in  the  East. 

The  miserably  small  army  left  with  King  Godfrey 
would  have  ill-sufficed  to  defend  the  city,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  continual  relays  of  pilgrims  who  arrived 
daily.  These  could  all,  at  a  pinch,  be  turned  into 
fighting  men,  and  when  their  pilgrimage  was  finished 
there   were    many   who  would  remain  and  enter  per- 


222  JERUSALEM. 


manently  into  the  services  of  the  king.  And  this  seems 
to  have  been  the  principal  way  in  which  the  army  was 
recruited.  It  was  nearly  always  engaged  in  fighting  or 
making  ready  for  fighting,  and  without  constant  rein- 
forcements must  speedily  have  come  to  an  end.  A 
great  many  Christians  settled  in  the  country  by 
degrees,  and  marrying  either  with  native  Christians  or 
others,  produced  a  race  of  semi- Asiatics,  called  pullani* 
who  seem  to  have  united  the  vices  of  both  sides  of 
their  descent,  and  to  have  inherited  none  of  the 
virtues. 

As  for  the  people — not  the  Saracens,  who,  it  must  be 
remembered,  were  always  the  conquerors,  but  not 
always  the  settlers — we  have  little  information  about 
them.  The  hand  of  the  Arab  was  against  every  man, 
and  every  man's  against  him.  When  the  pilgrims,  it 
will  be  remembered,  killed  the  sheikh  at  Ramleh,  the 
Emir  expressed  his  gratitude  at  being  rid  of  his  worst 
enemy.  But,  as  to  the  villagers,  the  people  who  tilled 
the  ground,  the  occupants  of  the  soil,  we  know  nothing 
of  what  race  they  were.  It  was  four  hundred  years  since 
the  country  had  ceased  to  be  Christian — it  is  hardly  to 
be  expected  that  the  villagers  were  anything  but 
Mohammedan.  William  of  Tyre  expressly  calls  them 
infidels,  or  Saracens,  and  they  were  certainly  hostile. 
No  Christian  could  travel  across  the  country  unless  as 
one  of  a  formidable  party  ;  and  the  labourers  refused  to 
cultivate  the  ground,  in  hopes  of  starving  the  Christians 
out ;  even  in  the  towns,  the  walls  were  all  so  ruinous, 
and  the  defenders  so  few,  that  thieves  and  murderers 
entered  by  night,  and  no    one  lay  down   to   sleep   in 

*  Perhaps  fuldni,  anybodies.  So  in  modern  Arabic  the  greatest 
insult  you  can  offer  a  man  is  to  call  him  fuldn  ibn  fiddn,  so  and 
so,  the  son  of  so  and  so — i.e.,  a  foundling  or  bastard. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  223 

safety.  The  country  had  been  too  quickly  overrun,  and 
places  which  had  surrendered  in  a  panic,  seeing  the 
paucity  of  the  numbers  opposed  to  them,  began  now  to 
think  how  the  yoke  was  to  be  shaken  off. 

It  was  at  Christmas,  1099,  that  Baldwin  of  Edessa, 
Bohemond,  and  Dagobert,  or  Daimbert,  Archbishop  of 
Pisa,  came  to  Jerusalem  with  upwards  of  twenty 
thousand  pilgrims.  These  had  suffered  from  cold  and 
the  attacks  of  Arabs,  but  had  received  relief  and  help 
from  Tancred  in  Tiberias,  and  were  welcomed  by  the 
king  at  the  head  of  all  his  people,  before  the  gates  of 
the  city.  Arrived  there,  they  chose  a  patriarch,  electing 
Dagobert ;  and  Arnold,  who  had  never  been  legally 
elected,  was  deposed.  They  stayed  during  the  winter, 
and  gave  the  king  their  counsels  as  to  the  future  con- 
stitution of  his  realm. 

Godfrey  employed  the  first  six  months  of  the  year 
1 100  in  regulating  ecclesiastical  affairs,  the  clergy 
being,  as  usual,  almost  incredibly  greedy,  and  in  con- 
cluding treaties  with  the  governors  of  Ascalon,  Acre, 
Caesarea,  Damascus,  and  Aleppo.  He  was  showing 
himself  as  skilful  in  administration  as  he  had  been  in 
war,  and  the  Christian  kingdom  would  doubtless  have 
been  put  upon  a  solid  and  permanent  footing,  but  for 
his  sudden  and  premature  death,  which  took  place  on 
July  the  18th,  1100.  His  end  was  caused  by  an  inter- 
mittent fever  ;  finding  that  there  was  little  hope,  he 
caused  himself  to  be  transported  from  Jaffa  to 
Jerusalem,  where  he  breathed  his  last.  He  was  buried 
in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  his  epitaph 
might  have  been  read  up  to  the  year  1808,  when  the 
church  was  destroyed  by  fire  : 

1  Hie  jacet  inclitus  dux  Godefridus  de  Bouillon,  qui 
totam  istam  terram  acquisivit  cultui,  Christiano,  cujus 


li 


224  JERUSALEM. 


anima  regnet  cum  Christo.'  And  here,  too,  were  laid 
up  his  sword,  more  trenchant  than  Excalibur,  and  the 
knightly  spurs  with  which  he  had  won  more  honour 
than  King  Arthur. 

The  Assises  de  Jerusalem,  that  most  curious  and 
instructive  code  of  feudal  law,  does  not  belong  properly 
to  the  reign  of  Godfrey.  As  it  now  exists  it  was  drawn 
up  in  the  fourteenth  century.  But  it  embodies, 
although  it  contains  many  additions  and  interpolations, 
the  code  which  Godfrey  first  began,  and  the  following 
kings  finished.  And  it  is  based  upon  the  idea  which 
ruled  Godfrey  and  his  peers.  It  may  therefore  fairly  be 
considered  in  this  place. 

It  was  highly  necessary  to  have  strict  and  clearly 
defined  laws  for  the  new  kingdom.  Its  subjects  were 
either  pious  and  fanatic  pilgrims,  or  unscrupulous  and 
ambitious  adventurers.  Bishops  and  vassals,  among 
whom  the  conquered  lands  were  freely  distributed, 
were  disposed  to  set  their  suzerain  at  defiance,  and  to 
exalt  themselves  into  petty  kings.  The  pilgrims  were 
many  of  them  criminals  of  the  worst  kind,  ready  enough, 
when  the  old  score  was  wiped  out  by  so  many  prayers 
at  sacred  places,  to  begin  a  new  one.  They  were  of  all 
countries,  and  spoke  all  languages.  Their  presence, 
useful  enough  when  the  Egyptian  army  had  to  be 
defeated,  was  a  source  of  the  greatest  danger  in  time  of 
peace.  It  is  true  that  the  time  of  peace  was  never 
more  than  a  few  months  in  duration. 

The  duties  and  rights  of  king,  baron,  and  bourgeois 
were  therefore  strictly  and  carefully  laid  down  in 
Godfrey's  Assises.  Every  law  was  written  on  parch- 
ment, in  great  letters,  the  first  being  illuminated  in 
gold,  and  all  the  others  in  vermilion  ;  on  every  sheet 
was  the  seal  of  the  king  ;  the  whole  was  deposited  in  a 


THE  'ASSISES  OF  JERUSALEM:  225 

great  box  in  the  sacred  church,  and  called  the  '  Letters 
of  the  Sepulchre.' 

The  duty  of  the  king  was  to  maintain  the  laws  ;  to 
defend  the  Church  ;  to  care  for  widows  and  orphans ; 
to  watch  over  the  safety  of  the  people  ;  and  to  lead  the 
army  to  war.  The  duty  of  the  seigneur  towards  his 
people  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  the  king ; 
towards  the  king  it  was  to  serve  him  in  war  and  by 
counsel.  The  duty  of  a  subject  to  his  lord  was  to 
defend  and  to  revenge  him  ;  to  protect  the  honour  of 
his  wife  and  daughters  ;  to  be  a  hostage  for  him  in 
case  of  need  ;  to  give  him  his  horse  if  he  wanted  one, 
or  arms  if  he  wanted  them  ;  and  to  keep  faith  with 
him.  There  were  three  courts  of  justice ;  the  first 
presided  over  by  the  king,  for  the  regulation  of  all 
differences  between  the  great  vassals ;  the  second, 
formed  of  the  principal  inhabitants — a  kind  of  jury — to 
maintain  the  laws  among  the  bourgeoisie  ;  and  the  third, 
reserved  for  the  Oriental  Christians,  presided  over  by 
judges  born  in  Syria. 

The  king,  the  summit  of  this  feudal  pyramid,  who 
was  wont  to  offer  his  crown  at  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  '  as 
a  woman  used  to  offer  her  male  child  at  the  Temple,' 
had  immediately  under  him  his  seneschal,  who  acted 
as  chief  justice,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  and  prime 
minister.  The  constable  commanded  the  army  in  the 
name  of  or  in  the  absence  of  the  king ;  he  presided 
over  the  ordeal  by  battle,  and  regulated  its  administra- 
tion. Under  his  orders  was  the  marshal,  who  replaced 
him  on  occasion.  The  chamberlain's  duty  was  about 
the  person  of  the  king. 

As  regards  the  power  and  duties  of  the  barons,  it 
was  ruled  that  they  were  allowed,  if  they  pleased,  to 
give  their  fiefs  to  the  Church ;  that  the  fiefs  should 

T5 


226  JERUSALEM. 

always  descend  to  the  male  heir  ;  that  the  baron  or 
seigneur  should  succeed  to  a  fief  alienated  by  the 
failure  on  the  part  of  the  feudatory  to  perform  his 
duties ;  that  the  baron  should  be  the  guardian  of  heirs 
male  and  female.  These,  if  male,  were  to  present 
themselves  when  the  time  came,  saying,  '  I  am  fully 
fifteen  years  of  age,'  upon  which  he  was  to  invest 
them  ;  while  maidens  were  to  claim  their  fiefs  at  the 
age  of  twelve,  on  condition  that  they  took  a  husband 
to  protect  it.  Nor  was  any  woman  who  remained 
without  a  husband  to  hold  a  fief  until  she  was  at  least 
sixty  years  of  age, 

In  the  ordeal  of  battle,  the  formula  of  challenge  was 
provided,  and  only  those  were  excused  who  had  lost 
limbs  in  battle  or  otherwise,  women,  children,  and  men 
arrived  at  their  sixtieth  year.  In  a  criminal  case,  death 
followed  defeat ;  in  a  civil  case,  infamy. 

Slaves,  peasants,  and  captives  were,  like  cattle, 
subject  only  to  laws  of  buying  and  selling.  A  slave 
was  reckoned  worth  a  falcon  ;  two  slaves  were  worth  a 
charger ;  the  master  could  do  exactly  as  he  pleased 
with  his  own  slaves.  They  were  protected  by  the 
natural  kindness  of  humanity  alone.  In  the  days  of 
its  greatest  prosperity  the  different  baronies  and  cities 
of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  could  be  called  upon  to 
furnish  in  all  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  knights.  Bat  this  was  after  the  time  of  Godfrey, 
the  David  of  the  new  kingdom. 

Of  course  the  seigneurs  and  barons  took  their  titles 
from  the  places  they  held  ;  thus  we  hear  of  the  barony 
of  Jaffa,  of  Galilee,  of  Acre,  and  of  Nablous ;  the 
seigneur  of  Kerak  and  of  Arsuf.  And  thus  in  the  soil 
of  Palestine  was  planted,  like  some  strange  exotic,  rare 
and  new,  the  whole  of  the  feudal  system,  with  all  its 
laws,  its  ideas,  and  its  limitations. 


NE  W  ENTHUSIA  SAL  227 

The  news  of  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem,  and  the 
return  of  the  triumphant  Crusaders,  revived  the  flame 
of  crusading  enthusiasm,  which  in  the  space  of  four 
years  had  somewhat  subsided.  Those  who  had  not 
followed  the  rest  in  taking  the  Cross  reproached  them- 
selves with  apathy ;  those  who  had  deserted  the  Cross 
were  the  object  of  contempt  and  scorn.  More  signs 
appeared  in  heaven  :  flames  of  fire  in  the  east — 
probably  at  daybreak ;  passages  of  insects  and  birds 
— emblematic  of  the  swarms  of  pilgrims  which  were 
to  follow.  Only  when  the  preachers  urged  on  their 
hearers  to  take  the  Cross  it  was  no  longer  in  the  minor 
key  of  plaint  and  suffering  ;  they  ha i  risen  and  left  the 
waters  of  Babylon  ;  they  had  taken  down  their  harps 
from  the  trees  and  tuned  them  afresh  ;  they  sang,  now, 
a  song  of  triumph ;  and  in  place  of  suffering,  sorrow, 
and  humiliation,  they  proclaimed  victory,  glory,  and 
riches.  It  seemed  better  to  a  European  knight  to  be 
Baron  of  Samaria  than  lord  of  a  western  state  ;  im- 
agination magnified  the  splendour  of  Baldwin  and 
Tancred  ;  things  far  off  assumed  such  colours  as  the 
mind  pleased ;  and  letters  read  from  the  chiefs  in 
Palestine  spoke  only  of  spoils  won  in  battle,  of  splendid 
victories,  and  of  conquered  lands.  Again  the  cry  was 
raised  of  Dieu  le  veut,  and  again  the  pilgrims,  but  this 
time  in  a  very  different  spirit,  poured  eastwards  in 
countless  thousands. 

The  way  was  led  by  Hugh,  Count  of  Vermandois, 
and  the  unfortunate  Stephen  of  Blois,  whose  lives  had 
been  a  mere  burden  to  them  since  their  desertion  of 
the  Cross  ;  the  latter,  who  had  little  inclination  for 
fighting  of  any  kind,  and  still  less  for  more  hardships  in 
the  thirsty  East,  followed  at  the  instigation  of  his  wife 
Adela,  daughter  of  William  the   Conqueror.     Neither 

15—2 


228  JERUSALEM. 


of  them  ever  returned.  William  of  Poitiers,  like 
Stephen  of  Blois,  a  poet  and  scholar,  mortgaged  his 
estates  to  William  Rufus,  the  scoffer,  who,  of  course, 
was  still  lamentably  insensible  to  the  voice  of  the 
preacher — it  must  have  been  just  before  his  death; 
Humbert  of  Savoy,  William  of  Nevers,  Harpin  of 
Bourges,  and  Odo,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  followed  his 
example.  In  Italy  the  Bishop  of  Milan,  armed  with  a 
bone  of  St.  Ambrose,  led  an  army  of  one  hundred 
thousand  pilgrims,  while  an  immense  number  of  Ger- 
mans followed  the  Marshal  Conrad  and  Wolf  of 
Bavaria.  Most  of  the  knights  professed  religious 
zeal ;  but  hoped,  their  geographical  knowledge  being 
small,  to  win  kingdoms  and  duchies  like  those  of 
Baldwin  and  Tancred.  Humbert  of  Savoy,  more 
honest  than  the  others,  openly  ordered  prayers  to  be 
put  up  that  he  might  obtain  a  happy  principality.  It 
does  not  appear  from  history  that  his  petition  was 
granted. 

The  new  army  was  by  no  means  so  well-conducted 
as  the  old.  Insolent  in  their  confidence,  and  ill-dis- 
ciplined, they  plundered  and  pillaged  wherever  they 
came.  They  menaced  Alexis  Comnenus,  and  threatened 
to  take  and  destroy  the  city.  Alexis,  it  is  said,  but  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  this,  actually  turned  his  wild  beasts 
upon  the  mob,  and  his  favourite  lion  got  killed  in  the 
encounter.  After  prayers  and  presents,  the  Emperor 
persuaded  his  unruly  guests  to  depart  and  go  across 
the  straits.  Non  defensoribus  istis  might  have  been  the 
constant  ejaculation  of  the  much-abused  and  long- 
suffering  monarch. 

Then  they  were  joined  by  Conrad  with  his  Germans, 
and  Hugh  with  his  French.  The  numbers  are  stated 
at  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand,  among  whom  were 


HUGH  OF  VERMANDOIS.  229 

a  vast  number  of  priests,  monks,  women,  and  children. 
Raymond  of  Toulouse,  who  was  in  Constantinople, 
undertook  reluctantly  to  guide  the  army  across  Asia 
Minor,  and  brought  with  him  a  few  of  his  Provencaux 
and  a  body  of  five  hundred  Turcopoles  (these  were 
light  infantry,  so  called  because  they  were  the  children 
of  Christian  women  by  Turkish  fathers),  the  contingent 
of  the  Greek  Emperor. 

But  the  army  was  too  confident  to  keep  to  the  old 

path.     They  would  go  eastward  and  attack  the  Turks 

in    their    strongest    place,    even    in    Khorassan    itself. 

Raymond  let  them  have  their  own  way,  doubtless  with 

misgiving  and  anxiety,  and  went  with  them.     The  town 

of  Ancyra,  in  Paphlagonia,  was  attacked  and  taken  by 

assault.      All    the  people  were  put    to  death  without 

exception.     They  went  on  farther,  exultant  and  jubilant. 

Presently  they  found    themselves    surrounded    by   the 

enemy,    who    appeared    suddenly,    attacked    them    in 

clouds,  and  from  all  quarters.     They  were  in  a  desert 

where  there  was  little  water,  what  there  was  being  so 

rigorously  watched  over  by  the  Turks  that  few  escaped 

who  went  to  seek  it.     They  were  marching  over  dry 

brushwood  ;  the  Turks  set  fire  to  it,  and  many  perished 

in   the   flames    or   the   smoke.      There   was   but    one 

thing  to  do,  to  fight  the  enemy.     They    did    so,  and 

though  the  victory  seemed  theirs,  they  had  small  cause 

to  triumph,  for  division  after  division  of  their  army  had 

been  forced  to  fly  before  the  Turks.     Still  this  might 

have  been  repaired.     But  in  the  night  Count  Raymond 

left  them,  and  fled  with  his  soldiers  in  the  direction  of 

Sinope.      The  news  of  this  defection  quickly  spread. 

Bishops,  princes,  and  knights,    seized  with    a  sudden 

panic,  left  baggage,  tents  and  all,  and  fled  away  in  hot 

haste.     In  the  morning  the  Turks  prepared  again  for 


230  JERUSALEM. 


battle.  There  was  no  enemy.  In  the  camp  was 
nothing  but  a  shrieking,  despairing  multitude  of  monks, 
and  women,  and  children.  The  Turks  killed  re- 
morselessly, sparing  none  but  those  women  who  were 
young  and  beautiful.  In  their  terror  and  misery  the 
poor  creatures  put  on  hastily  their  finest  dresses,  in 
hopes  by  their  beauty  to  win  life  at  least,  if  life  shame- 
ful, and  hopeless,  and  miserable. 

'Alas!'  says  Albert  of  Aix,  'alas!  what  grief  for 
these  women  so  tender  and  so  noble,  led  into  captivity 
by  savages  so  impious  and  so  horrible  !  For  these  men 
had  their  heads  shaven  in  front,  at  the  sides,  and  at  the 
nape,  the  little  hair  left  fell  behind  in  disorder,  and  in 
few  plaits,  upon  their  necks  ;  their  beards  were  thick 
and  unkempt,  and  everything,  with  their  garments,  gave 
them  the  appearance  of  infernal  and  unclean  spirits. 
There  were  no  bounds  to  the  cries  and  lamentations  of 
these  delicate  women  ;  the  camp  re-echoed  with  their 
groans  ;  one  had  seen  her  husband  perish,  one  had  been 
left  behind  by  hers.  Some  were  beheaded  after  serving 
to  gratify  the  lust  of  the  Turks  ;  some  whose  beauty  had 
struck  their  eyes  were  reserved  for  a  wretched  captivity. 
After  having  taken  so  many  women  in  the  tents  of  the 
Christians,  the  Turks  set  off  in  pursuit  of  the  foot- 
soldiers,  the  knights,  the  priests,  and  the  monks  ;  they 
struck  them  with  the  sword  as  a  reaper  cuts  the  wheat 
with  his  sickle  ;  they  respected  neither  age  nor  rank, 
they  spared  none  but  those  whom  they  destined  to  be 
soldiers.  The  ground  was  covered  with  immense 
riches  abandoned  by  the  fugitives.  Here  and  there 
were  seen  splendid  dresses  of  various  colours ;  horses 
and  mules  lay  about  the  plain  ;  blood  inundated  the 
roads,  and  the  number  of  dead  amounted  to  more  than 
a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand.' 


THE  LAST  WAVES.  231 

As  for  the  arm  of  St.  Ambrose,  that  was  lost  too,  and 
it  doubtless  lies  still  upon  the  plain  beyond  Ancyra, 
waiting  to  work  more  miracles.  It  is  exasperating  to 
find  all  the  chroniclers,  with  the  exception  of  Albert  of 
Aix,  passing  over  with  hardly  a  word  of  sympathy  the 
miserable  fate  of  the  helpless  women,  and  pouring  out 
their  regrets  over  their  trumpery  relic. 

There  was  another  army  still,  headed  by  the  Duke  of 
Nevers.  They  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  their  pre- 
decessors as  far  as  Ancyra,  where  they  turned  south- 
wards. Their  fate  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  others  : 
all  were  killed.  The  leader,  who  had  fled  to  Germani- 
copolis,  took  some  Greek  soldiers  as  guides.  These 
stripped  him,  and  left  him  alone  in  the  forest.  He 
wandered  about  for  some  days,  and  at  last  found  his 
way  to  Antioch,  as  poor  and  naked  as  any  beggar  in  his 
own  town. 

The  third  and  last  army, headed  by  the  Count  Hugh  of 
Vermandois,  met  with  a  similar  end.  Thirst,  heat,  and 
hunger  destroyed  their  strength,  for  the  Turks  had 
filled  the  wells,  destroyed  the  crops,  and  let  the  water 
out  of  the  cisterns.  On  the  river  Halys  they  met  their 
end;  William  of  Poitiers,  like  the  Duke  of  Nevers, 
arrived  naked  at  Antioch.  The  luckless  Count  of 
Vermandois  got  as  far  as  Tarsus,  where  he  died  of  his 
wounds,  and  poor  Ida  of  Austria,  who  came,  as  she 
thought,  under  the  protection  of  the  pilgrims,  with 
all  her  noble  ladies,  was  never  heard  of  any  more. 

Of  these  three  great  hosts,  only  ten  thousand 
managed  to  get  to  Antioch.  Every  one  of  the  ladies 
and  women  who  were  with  them  perished ;  all  the 
children,  all  the  monks  and  priests.  And  of  the  leaders, 
i  none  went  back  to  Europe  except  the  Count  of  Blandrat, 
who  with  the  Bishop  of  Milan  had  headed  the  Lorn- 


232  JERUSALEM. 


bards,  the  Duke  of  Nevers,  and  William  of  Poitiers, 
the  troubadour. 

These  were  the  last  waves  of  the  first  great  storm. 
With  the  last  of  these  three  great  armies  died  away  the 
crusading  spirit  proper — that  which  Peter  the  Hermit 
had  aroused.  There  could  be  no  more  any  such 
universal  enthusiasm.  Once  and  only  once  again  would 
all  Europe  thrill  with  rage  and  indignation.  It  had 
burned  to  wrest  the  city  from  the  infidels ;  it  was  to 
burn  once  more,  but  this  time  with  a  feebler  flame, 
and  ineffectually,  to  wrest  it  a  second  time,  when  the 
frail  and  turbulent  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  should  be  at 
an  end. 

We  have  dealt,  perhaps,  at  too  great  length  on  the 
great  Crusade  which  really  ended  with  the  death  of 
Godfrey.  But  the  centre  of  its  aims  was  Jerusalem. 
The  Christian  kingdom,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
episodes  in  the  history  of  the  city,  cannot  be  understood 
without  knowing  some  of  the  events  which  brought  it 
about. 


THE  KINGS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


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CHAPTER  VIII. 

KING    BALDWIN    I.      A.D.    IIOO — IIl8. 

'Tell  me,' said  Don  Quixote,  'have  you  ever  seen  a  more  valorous 
knight  than  I  upon  the  whole  face  of  the  known  earth  ?' 

No  sooner  was  the  breath  out  of  Godfrey's  body,  than, 
according  to  usual  custom,  the  Christians  began  to 
quarrel  as  to  who  should  succeed  him.  Count  Gamier 
de  Gray,  a  cousin  of  Godfrey's,  took  possession  promptly 
of  the  Tower  of  David  and  other  fortified  places,  and 
refused  to  give  them  up  to  the  patriarch,  Dagobert,  who 
claimed  them  as  having  been  ceded  to  him  by  the  late 
king.  Unfortunately,  Count  Gamier  died  suddenly  at 
this  juncture,  and  his  death  was  of  course  interpreted 
by  the  churchmen  as  a  punishment  for  his  contumacy. 
Dagobert  wrote  immediately — the  letter  is  preserved — 
to  Bohemond,  urging  him  to  assert  his  claims.  Hardly 
was  the  epistle  sent  off,  when  the  news  came  that 
Bohemond  was  a  prisoner.  There  was,  therefore, 
nothing  to  prevent  Baldwin  from  stepping  quietly  into 
the  throne. 

Baldwin,  the  brother  of  Godfrey,  had  been  originally 
destined  for  the  Church,  and  received  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. When  he  abandoned  the  robe  for  the  sword  is 
not  certain,  nor,  indeed,  do  we  know  anything  at  all 
about  him  until  we  see  him  in  the  Crusade  following 
his   brother.     He  was    a  man    of  grave  and  majestic 


KING  BALDWIN  I.  235 

bearing.  Taller  by  a  head  than  other  men,  he  was 
also  of  great  strength,  extremely  active,  and  well 
skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  chivalry.  His  beard  and  hair 
were  black,  his  nose  aquiline,  and  the  upper  lip  slightly 
projecting.  He  was  fond  of  personal  splendour  and 
display.  When  he  rode  out  in  the  town  of  Edessa  a 
golden  buckler,  with  the  device  of  an  eagle,  was  borne 
before  him,  and  two  horsemen  rode  in  front  blowing 
trumpets.  Following  the  Oriental  custom,  he  had 
allowed  his  beard  to  grow,  and  took  his  meals  seated  on 
carpets.  He  was  not,  like  his  brother,  personally  pious, 
nor  was  he  by  any  means  priest-ridden.  His  early 
education  had  been  sufficient  to  deprive  him  of  any 
great  respect  Tor  the  cloth,  and  the  facility  with  which 
he  fell  into  Oriental  customs  proves  that  his  Christianity 
sat  lightly  enough  upon  him.  As  yet,  however,  there 
were  no  declared  infidels  in  the  East.  His  morals 
were  dissolute,  but  he  knew  how  to  prevent  scandals 
arising,  and  none  but  those  who  were  immediately 
about  him  knew  what  was  the  private  life  of  their  grave 
and  solemn  king.  At  the  same  time  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  a  hypocrite,  or  to  have  claimed 
any  merit  at  all  for  piety.  The  figure  of  Godfrey  is 
clouded  with  legends  and  miraculous  stories.  We 
hardly  seem  to  see,  through  the  mist  of  years,  the 
features  of  the  short-lived  David  of  the  new  kingdom. 
But  that  of  Baldwin,  the  new  Solomon  of  Jerusalem, 
stands  out  clear  and  distinct.  This  king,  calm,  cold  of 
speech,  self-reliant,  like  Saul,  a  head  taller  than  anybody 
dse,  who  will  not  be  seen  abroad  without  a  mantle 
upon  his  shoulders,  who  lets  his  beard  grow,  and  looks 
jut  upon  the  world  with  those  keen  bright  eyes  of  his, 
ind  that  strong  projecting  upper  lip,  is  indeed  a  man, 
ind  not  a  shadow  of  history.     He  is  a  clerk,  and  is  not 


236  JERUSALEM. 


to  be  terrified,  knowing  too  much  of  the  Church,  into 
giving  up  his  own  to  the  Church,  as  Godfrey  did.  His, 
too,  is  the  sharp,  clear-cut,  aquiline  nose  of  the  general, 
as  well  as  the  strong  arm  of  a  soldier,  and  the  Turks 
will  not  probably  greatly  prevail  against  him.  And 
with  Godfrey,  as  we  have  said  before,  vanish  for  ever 
those  shadowy  figures  of  saints  and  dead  bishops  who 
were  wont  to  fight  with  the  army.  King  Baldwin 
believed  in  no  saints'  help,  either  in  battle  or  in  the 
world,  and  did  not  look  for  any.  Jerusalem,  hence- 
forth, has  to  get  along  without  many  miracles.  For 
the  appearance  of  saints  and  other  ghostly  auxiliaries  is 
like  the  appearance  of  fairies — they  come  not,  when 
men  believe  in  them  no  more  : 

'  Their  lives 
Are  based  upon  the  fickle  faith  of  men  : 
Not  measured  out  against  fate's  mortal  knives 
Like  human  gossamers  ;  they  perish  when 
They  fade,  and  are  forgot  in  worldly  ken.' 

Baldwin  did  not  hesitate  one  moment  to  exchange : 
his  rich  and  luxurious  principality   of  Edessa  for  the? 
greater  dignity,  with  all  its  thorns  and  cares,  of  the; 
crown  of  Jerusalem.     He  made  over  his  power  to  his; 
cousin    Baldwin  du  Bourg,  and    himself,  with  a  little 
army  of  four  hundred  knights  and  one  thousand  foot, 
started    on    his    perilous  journey,    through    a   country 
swarming  with  enemies.      He  got  on  very   smoothly, 
despite  the  paucity  of  his  numbers,  until  he  reached 
Beyrout.     Five   miles  from  that  town   was  a   narrow 
pass,  with  the  sea  on  one  side  and  rocks  on  the  other, 
toojdifncult  to  force  if  it  were  held  by  even  a  hundred 
men.     The  trouble  and   anxiety  into  which  the  army 
was   thrown    are   well    told    by    Foulcher,    the    king's 
chaplain,   who   was   with  him.     The  worthy  chaplain 
was  horribly  frightened.      '  I  would  much  rather,'  he 


FOULCHER  DE  CHARTRES.  237 

tells  us,  '  have  been  at  Chartres  or  Orleans.  .  .  . 
Nowhere  was  there  a  place  where  he  could  find  refuge, 
no  way  was  open  to  us  to  escape  death,  no  passage 
was  left  by  which  we  could  flee,  no  hope  of  safety 
remained  if  we  stayed  where  we  were.  Solomon 
himself  would  not  have  known  which  way  to  turn,  and 
even  Samson  would  have  been  conquered.  But  God, 
.  .  .  seeing  the  peril  into  which  we  had  fallen  for  His 
service,  and  through  love  of  Him' — rather  a  daring 
assertion,  considering  that  Baldwin  had  deserted  the 
Crusade,  and  gone  off  filibustering  entirely  on  his  own 
account,  and  was  now  going  to  receive  a  crown  for 
which  he  certainly  had  not  fought — '  was  touched  with 
pity,  and  granted  in  His  mercy  such  an  audacity  of 
courage  that  our  men  put  to  flight  those  who  were 
pursuing  them  ....  Some  threw  themselves  from  the 
top  of  scarped  rocks,  others  rushed  to  places  which 
seemed  to  present  a  little  chance  of  safety,  others  were 
caught  and  perished  by  the  edge  of  the  sword.  You 
ought  to  have  seen  their  ships  flying  through  the 
waves,  as  if  we  could  seize  them  with  our  hands ;  and 
themselves  in  their  fright  scaling  the  mountains  and 
the  rocks.'  And  no  doubt  it  did  the  excellent  chaplain 
good  to  see  them  running  away,  just  after  defeat  and 
I  death  appeared  so  imminent. 

In  the  morning  Baldwin  rode  up  to  examine  the 
pass,  and  found  the  enemy  gone.  So  the  little  army 
passed  in  safety,  and  went  on  their  way,  laden  with  the 
spoils  of  the  Turks. 

Arrived  at  Jerusalem,  all  the  people,  headed  by  the 
clergy,  came  out  to  meet  the  king,  singing  hymns  and 
bearing  tapers.  Only  the  patriarch,  Dagobert,  chose 
to  be  absent  and  retired  to  Mount  Zion,  pretending  to 
be  in  fear  for  his  personal  safety. 


238  JERUSALEM. 


Baldwin  did  not  immediately  concern  himself  about 
the  patriarch.  Satisfied  with  the  homage  of  the  barons 
and  clergy,  and  conscious  that  his  crown  could  only  be. 
preserved  by  establishing  respect  for  his  prowess  among 
his  own  men,  and  fear  among  the  Mohammedans,  he 
set  out  with  a  force  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  knights,  and 
five  hundred  foot,  and  appeared  before  the  walls  of 
Ascalon.  Here,  however,  he  experienced  a  check,  the 
garrison  having  been  reinforced.  Raising  the  siege 
hastily,  he  ravaged  the  country  round  the  town,  and 
then  directed  his  march  in  a  south-east  direction, 
taking  possession  of  the  cattle  everywhere  and  destroy- 
ing the  crops.  At  one  place  he  found  a  large  number 
of  Arabs,  robbers,  we  are  told,  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
caverns.  Baldwin  kindled  fires  at  the  mouth  of  the 
cave,  hoping  to  drive  them  out  by  the  smoke.  Only 
two  came.  The  king  spoke  kindly  to  them,  kept  one, 
dressed  up  the  other  in  a  magnificent  mantle  and  sent 
him  back.  As  soon  as  he  was  gone  Baldwin  killed  the 
one  who  was  left.  Presently  the  messenger  returned 
with  ten  more.  Baldwin  sent  back  one,  as  before,  and 
killed  the  remaining  ten.  This  one  returned  with 
thirty ;  one  was  sent  back  and  the  rest  beheaded. 
The  next  time  two  hundred  and  thirty  came  out,  and 
Baldwin  beheaded  them  all.  Then  more  fire  was 
made,  and  the  miserable  wives  and  children  were 
forced  to  come  out.  Some  ransomed  their  lives,  the 
rest  were  beheaded.  Baldwin,  after  this  wholesale 
slaughter,  thence  travelled  down  to  the  Dead  Sea,  to 
the  great  delight  of  his  chaplain,  who  describes  the 
places  he  saw,  everywhere  inspiring  terror  of  his  name, 
and  driving  the  cattle  before  him.  He  returned  to 
Jerusalem  laden  with  booty,  three  days  before  Christ- 
mas, having  succeeded  in  gaining  the  confidence  of  his 


DAGOBERT.  239 


iew  subjects.  Dagobert,  the  patriarch,  deemed  it 
wisest  to  cease  his  opposition  to  the  king,  and  the 
:oronation  of  Baldwin  took  place  at  Bethlehem, 
fancred  at  first  refused  to  recognise  his  old  enemy  as 
;ing,  but  giving  way,  they  were  reconciled ;  moreover, 
le  was  no  longer  so  much  in  Baldwin's  way,  because  in 
lis  uncle  Bohemond's  captivity  he  was  governing  his 
)rincipality  of  Antioch.  The  reconciliation,  like  that 
>etween  Raymond  and  Godfrey,  was  sincere  and  loyal. 
3y  several  small  expeditions,  such  as  that  directed  to 
he  south,  Baldwin  established  a  terror  for  his  name 
vhich  served  him  in  good  stead.  For  the  kingdom  was 
n  an  unstable  and  dangerous  condition  ;  there  were 
fery  few  men  with  whom  to  form  an  army,  and  had  it 
lot  been  for  the  pilgrims  who  flocked  to  the  city  in 
housands,  it  might  have  been  lost  many  times  over. 

The  Easter  miracle  of  the  Holy  Fire  served  this  year 
;o  revive  the  enthusiasm  which  was  beginning  to  flag. 
ro  the  astonishment  and  horror  of  the  people  it  did 
lot  come  as  usual.  For  three  days  they  waited, 
rears,  prayers,  and  lamentations  were  uttered.  Then 
1  solemn  procession  was  enjoined,  and  king,  clergy, 
ind  people  marched  barefooted  round  the  church, 
weeping  and  praying.  Suddenly  a  bright  light  filled 
the  church.  The  flame  had  lit  one  of  the  lamps,  it 
Hew  from  lamp  to  lamp,  and  when  in  the  evening 
Baldwin  sat  at  dinner  in  the  '  Temple  of  Solomon,' 
i.e.,  the  Jami  el  Aksa,  two  lamps  were  miraculously 
kindled  there  also.  We  can  have  very  little  doubt, 
nasmuch  as  this  impudent  imposture  is  carried  on  to 
:he  present  day,  avowedly  as  an  imposture,  that  Bald- 
win and  the  clergy  devised  the  scheme  as  a  means  to 
irouse  the  flagging  zeal  of  the  pilgrims,  and  especially 
)f    certain    Genoese   and    Pisans,    who    had    a    large 


4o  JERUSALEM. 


ileet  with  them,  the   assistance  of  which    he  greatly 
desired. 

To  bring  about  this  fraud,  a  reconciliation  had  been 
effected  between  Baldwin  and  the  unworthy  patriarch, 
Dagobert.  For  it  was  not  long  after  the  return  of 
Baldwin  from  his  first  expedition  when  he  discovered 
how  Dagobert  had  endeavoured,  by  any  means  in  his 
power,  to  prevent  his  accession.  Doubtless  he  was 
informed  by  Arnold,*  the  late  chaplain  to  the  Duke 
Robert  of  Normandy.  Arnold,  a  priest  of  great 
ambition,  was  the  heir  to  Bishop  Odo  of  Bayeux, 
William  the  Conqueror's  half-brother,  who  had  left 
him  great  wealth.  The  object  dearest  to  his  heart  was 
the  acquisition  of  the  post  of  patriarch.  After  the 
siege  he  performed  the  duties  temporarily,  as  a  sort  of 
vicar,  but  had  been  displaced  on  Dagobert's  appoint- 
ment. His  morals,  we  are  told  by  William  of  Tyre, 
were  so  notoriously  bad  as  to  be  the  theme  of  rough 
verses  among  the  soldiers.  But  William  of  Tyre, 
whose  favourite  name  for  him  is  '  that  firstborn  of 
Satan,'  writes  from  the  side  of  the  Church  as  repre- 
sented by  Dagobert.  The  morals  of  the  patriarch  • 
himself,  too,  appear  to  have  been  at  least  doubtful,  ! 
even  before  his  accession  to  his  new  dignity,  as  he  is 
roundly  accused  of  appropriating  to  his  own  purposes 
moneys  and  presents  destined  for  the  pope.  But 
churchmen,  when  they  talk  of  morality,  always  mean 
chastity  and  nothing  else.  As  soon  as  Baldwin  was 
informed  of  Dagobert's  opposition,  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
Rome,  accusing  the  patriarch  not  only  of  opposing  the 
election  of  the  lawful  and  hereditary  king,  but  also  of 
trying  to  procure  his  death  on  the  road,  and  of  exciting 
discord  among  the  chiefs  of  the  Crusade.  The  pope 
*  His  name  is  also  written  Arnoulf  and  Arnoul. 


\ 


DAGOBERT.  241 


sent  his  own  brother,  Cardinal  Maurice,  to  Jerusalem 
as  his  legate,  with  authority  to  suspend  the  patriarch 
until  he  should  be  able  to  purge  himself  of  the  charges 
brought  against  him.  Maurice  called  a  court  com- 
posed of  bishops  and  abbots  directly  he  arrived  in  the 
city,  and  summoned  the  king  to  prove,  and  the  patri- 
arch to  disprove,  his  accusations.  Baldwin  had,  mean- 
while, found  another  charge,  no  doubt  invented  by 
Arnold,  as  it  bears  all  the  marks  of  private  malice,  to 
bring  against  Dagobert.  He  had,  it  was  said,  purloined 
and  concealed  a  piece  of  the  wood  of  the  Cross,  in 
addition  to  his  other  offences  ;  the  king  himself  must 
have  known  well  enough  that  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Church  this  offence  would  be  far  more  serious  than 
any  of  the  others.  To  procure  the  death  of  a  man 
would  be  venial  indeed  compared  with  the  abstraction 
of  a  relic.  Dagobert  had  very  little,  it  would  appear, 
to  say,  and  an  adjournment  was  granted,  to  give  him 
time  to  call  witnesses  in  his  own  defence. 

Came,  meantime,  the  season  of  Easter,  and  that 
day,  Good  Friday,  when  the  Holy  Oil  was  wont  to  be 
consecrated  for  the  use  of  the  sick.  In  place  of  the 
patriarch,  whom  the  king  assumed  to  be  deposed,  but 
who  was  really  only  suspended,  the  cardinal  undertook 
this  duty,  and  was  already  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the 
place  assigned  to  this  ceremony,  when  the  patriarch, 
humiliated  beyond  all  expression  by  this  public  degra- 
dation from  his  functions,  went  to  the  king  and  im- 
plored him,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  to  reinstate  him  for 
that  day  only.  Baldwin  refused.  Dagobert  urged 
him  again  not  to  inflict  this  punishment  upon  him  in 
the  face  of  so  many  pilgrims.  But  the  king  remained 
obdurate.  Then  the  patriarch  changed  his  line. 
Instead  of  entreating,  he  bribed.     He  offered  Baldwin 

16 


242  JERUSALEM. 

three  hundred  byzantines.  The  royal  treasury  was 
empty,  the  knights  were  clamouring  for  their  pay,  and 
the  patriarch  obtained  his  request. 

After  this  some  sort  of  peace  was  made  up  between 
the  pope's  legate,  Cardinal  Maurice,  and  the  patriarch; 
a  peace  founded,  it  would  seem,  on  mutual  interest, 
for  we  are  told  that  they  became  so  friendly  that  they 
were  accustomed  to  spend  the  day  and  night  together 
in  retired  places,  secretly  feasting,  and  drinking  the 
wine  of  Gaza,  no  doubt  in  happy  ignorance  that  the  eye 
of  Arnold — that  first-born  of  Satan — was  upon  them, 
and  that  he  was  biding  his  time. 

In  the  spring,  at  the  same  time  as  the  memorable 
miracle  of  the  Holy  Fire,  and  the  arrival  of  the 
Genoese  and  Pisan  fleet,  came  emissaries  from  the 
Mohammedan  towns  of  Ascalon,  Caesarea,  Ptolemais, 
and  Tyre,  with  presents  and  money,  asking  for  permis- 
sion to  cultivate  their  lands  in  peace.  Baldwin  took 
the  money  and  promised  security  till  Pentecost.  He  also 
made  a  little  more  money  by  accepting  the  ransom  of 
certain  prisoners  whom  he  had  taken  at  Beyrout. 
With  this  capital  of  ready  money  he  was  able  to  pay 
his  knights,  at  least  in  part,  and  to  insure  their  service 
for  the  next  campaign.  He  offered  the  Genoese,  on 
condition  of  their  granting  him  their  assistance  with 
the  fleet,  to  give  up  to  them  a  third  of  the  booty  in 
every  town  which  he  might  take  with  their  assistance, 
and  to  name  one  of  the  principal  streets  in  it  the 
Street  of  the  Genoese.  They  agreed,  and  Baldwin 
made  his  preparations  for  an  attack  on  Caesarea.  The 
patriarch,  bearing  the  wood  of  the  true  Cross — all, 
that  is,  that  he  had  not  stolen — went  with  the  army. 
When  they  arrived  before  the  town,  the  people  of 
Caesarea,  rich  merchants,  who  desired  nothing  but  to 


TAKING  OF  CsESAREA.  243 

be  left  alone,  and  were  a  peaceful  folk,  sent  deputies, 
who  asked  the  patriarch  the  following  question  :  'You, 
who  are  the  doctors  of  the  Christian  law,  why  do  you 
order  your  men  to  kill  and  plunder  us,  who  are  made  in 
the  image  of  your  God  ?'  The  patriarch  evaded  the 
point.  '  We  do  not  desire,'  said  he  softly,  '  to  plunder 
you.  This  city  does  not  belong  to  you,  but  to  St. 
Peter.  We  have  no  wish  to  kill  you,  but  the  Divine 
vengeance  pursues  those  who  are  armed  against  the 
law  of  God.'  It  will  be  observed  that  the  town  was 
claimed,  not  for  the  Christian  kingdom,  but  for  the 
Church.  '  It  belonged  to  St.  Peter.'  Dagobert's  idea 
seemed  to  have  been  that  the  king  was  to  be  like 
Godfrey,  only  the  Defender  of  the  Sepulchre.  Bald- 
win, however,  thought  quite  differently.  The  city  was 
taken  with  the  usual  form,  and  with  the  usual  butchery. 
As  some  miserable  Saracens  had  been  seen  to  swallow 
coins,  the  Christians  cut  their  prisoners  in  two  to  find 
the  money,  and  burned  their  bodies  to  ashes,  looking 
for  the  gold  when  the  fire  was  out.  And  with  a  view 
to  restoring  his  own  to  St.  Peter,  they  pillaged  the 
whole  city  and  divided  the  spoils,  when  they  had  killed 
all  the  inhabitants.*  As  for  the  Genoese,  they  found  a 
relic  in  their  booty,  precious  indeed.  It  was  no  other 
than  the  Cup  of  the  Holy  Grail,  which  they  bore  away 
in  triumph.  How  its  authenticity  was  established  does 
not  appear,  but  it  has  been  kept,  ever  since,  with  great 
reverence,  and  may  still  be  seen  by  the  faithful.  The 
Christians  then  selected  an  archbishop.  There  was  a 
poor  and  ignorant  priest  called  Baldwin.  He  had 
tattooed  his  forehead  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
made  money  by  pretending  that  it  was  a  miraculous  sign. 

*  They  kept  the  women,  and  made  them  grind  corn  all  day  with 
".he  handmills. 

16  —  2 


244  JERUSALEM. 


Everybody  knew  that  he  was  an  impostor,  but  pro- 
bably because  the  pilgrims  insisted  on  believing  in  his 
sanctity,  and  in  order  to  conciliate  this  important 
element  of  the  population,  he  was  chosen  to  be  the 
archbishop. 

The  Egyptian  Caliph,  whose  plan  of  operation  seems 
to  have  been  to  send  constant  reinforcements  to  Ascalon, 
and  use  that  strong  place  as  a  centre  from  which  to 
harass  the  Christians,  gave  orders  to  try,  with  the 
coming  of  spring,  another  incursion.  Baldwin  met 
the  advanced  guard  of  the  Egyptian  troops  near 
Ramleh.  He  had  got  together  three  hundred  knights 
and  nine  hundred  foot.  The  Saracens  were  ten  times 
as  numerous.  The  king,  tying  a  white  banner  to  his 
lance,  led  the  way,  and  performed  prodigies  of  valour. 
And,  as  usual,  the  Mohammedans  were  seized  with  a 
panic  and  fled. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  wretched  remains  of 
the  new  armies  of  pilgrims  arrived  in  Palestine.  Their 
numbers  were  not  large,  as  we  have  seen,  but  their 
arrival  was  the  most  opportune  thing  that  could  have 
happened  for  Baldwin.  For,  having  seen  the  sacred 
places,  they  were  preparing  for  their  return  home  when 
the  hews  arrived  of  the  coming  into  Palestine  of 
another  vast  army  of  Egyptians.  They  were,  as  usual, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ascalon.  Baldwin  hastened 
to  meet  them  with  a  handful  of  knights,  among 
whom  was  the  unfortunate  Count  of  Blois  and  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy.  They  were  all  cut  to  pieces 
Baldwin  himself  escaping  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
and  almost  a' one,  to  Ramleh.  In  the  morning  he, 
found  himself,  with  his  little  band,  in  a  place  withoul 
any  means  of  defence,  and  surrounded  by  an  enormou.' 
army,  through  which  it  was  hopeless  to  think  of  cuttin 


ESCAPE  OF  THE  KING.  245 

a  way.  And  then  occurred  one  of  the  most  singular 
instances  of  gratitude  on  record.  A  stranger,  a  noble 
Mohammedan,  was  introduced  to  the  king.  '  I  am,'  he 
said,  '  one  to  whom  you  have  shown  yourself  generous. 
You  took  my  wife  prisoner.  On  the  way  she  was 
seized  with  the  pains  of  labour.  You  made  a  tent  for 
her  on  the  wayside,  laid  her  in  it,  and  left  her  pro- 
visions, water,  and  female  slaves  to  help  her.  So  her 
life  was  saved.  Now,  I  know  the  roads  which  are 
not  guarded.  Come  with  me,  but  come  alone,  and 
I  will  take  you  safely  through  the  midst  of  our  army.' 

Baldwin,  who  had  really  been  guilty  of  this  humanity 
to  a  poor  Mohammedan  woman,  was  constrained  to 
accept  the  generous  offer.  He  went  away  alone  with 
his  benefactor.  The  emir  kept  his  word  and  escorted 
him  to  a  place  of  safety,  where  he  left  him.  All  his 
companions  at  Ramleh  were  put  to  death  before  he  had 
time  to  help  them. 

Meantime,  the  greatest  consternation  reigned  in 
Jerusalem.  The  king  was  reported  to  be  a  captive  ; 
the  great  bell  tolled  ;  soldiers  and  knights  gathered 
together ;  the  gates  were  shut  ;  and  the  priests  and 
women  betook  themselves  to  prayer.  The  king,  how- 
ever, at  Jaffa,  collecting  all  the  troops  he  could  raise, 
prohibited  any  pilgrim  from  leaving  the  country,  and 
went  forth  once  more  with  all  his  force.  Their  war- 
cry  was,  '  Christ  conquers,  and  Christ  reigns,  Christ 
commands,'  in  place  of  the  old  '  Dieu  le  veut,'  and 
'  Dieu  aide.'  After  a  battle,  which  lasted  a  whole  day 
— the  spirit  of  the  Egyptians  had  been  raised  by  their 
temporary  success — victory  declared  for  the  Christians, 
and  the  Mohammedans  fled  with  a  loss  of  four 
thousand  men  :  the  smallness  of  their  loss  shows  that 
the   victory  was    not   one    of  the    fights    like   that    of 


246  JERUSALEM. 


Ascalon,  where  a  panic  made  the  Mohammedans 
absolutely  helpless. 

The  story  of  this  invasion  is  much  confused,  and  told 
by  the  chroniclers  in  different  ways,  only  one  of  them 
relating  the  gratitude  of  the  Saracen.  But  we  may 
fairly  assume  that  another  of  the  periodical  invasions 
took  place,  which  was  repelled,  though  with  difficulty, 
by  the  valour  of  Baldwin.  The  arms  of  the  Christians 
were  not,  however,  always  crowned  with  success,  and 
an  ill-omened  defeat  took  place  at  Harran,  where 
Baldwin  du  Bourg  and  Jocelyn  were  taken  prisoners. 
Bohemond,  who  had  been  released,  was  there  with 
Tancred,  and  both  escaped  with  great  difficulty.  It 
was  evident  that  the  Christian  strength  lay  chiefly  in 
the  terror  inspired  by  a  long  series  of  victories.  Once 
defeated,  the  prestige  of  the  conquerors  was  gone. 
And  when  the  Mohammedans  managed  to  recover  their 
old  self-confidence,  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  was  as 
good  as  lost,  and  its  destruction  was  only  a  matter  of 
time. 

Baldwin's  chief  difficulty  was  not  in  raising  armies, 
for  there  were  always  plenty  of  men  to  be  got  among 
the  pilgrims,  but  in  paying  an  army  when  he  had  raised 
it.  The  pilgrims  brought  daily  large  sums  in  offerings 
to  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  to  which  the  patriarch 
acted  officially  as  treasurer.  To  him  the  king  went  in 
his  distress,  and  demanded  that  some  of  the  money 
should  be  put  into  his  hands  to  pay  the  soldiers  with. 
Dagobert  asked  for  a  day's  delay,  and  then  brought  the 
king  two  hundred  marks,  with  a  polite  expression  of 
regret  that  he  could  do  no  more.  Arnold,  who  was 
now  Chancellor  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  laughed  aloud 
at  the  meagreness  of  this  offering,  and  informed  the 
king  that  immense  treasures  had  been  bestowed  upon 


GLUTTONY  OF  DAGOBERT.  247 

the  church,  which  were  all  concealed,  if  not  appropriated, 
by  the  patriarch.  Baldwin  thereupon  urged  again  on 
the  patriarch  the  necessity  of  his  contributing  towards 
the  support  of  the  army.  Dagobert,  relying  on  his 
friendship  with  the  legate,  disdained  to  take  any  notice 
of  the  king's  representation,  and  continued,  with 
Cardinal  Maurice,  to  use  for  his  own  festivals  and 
private  luxuries  the  riches  of  the  Church.  One  day, 
when  Baldwin  was  at  his  wits'  end  for  want  of  money, 
someone,  probably  Arnold,  brought  him  a  report  of  the 
dissolute  and  selfish  life  led  by  Dagobert.  '  Even  at 
this  moment,'  he  said,  '  the  patriarch  is  feasting  and 
drinking.'  The  king  took  some  of  his  officers  with 
him,  and  forcing  his  way  into  the  patriarch's  private 
apartments,  found  him  and  Maurice  at  a  table  spread 
with  all  the  luxuries  of  the  East.  Baldwin  flew  into  a 
royal  rage,  and  swore  a  royal  oath.  '  By  heavens  !'  he 
cried,  '  you  feast  while  we  fast ;  you  spend  on  your 
gluttony  the  offerings  of  the  faithful,  and  take  no  notice 
of  our  distress.  As  there  is  a  living  God,  you  shall 
not  touch  another  single  offering,  you  shall  not  fill  your 
bellies  with  dainties  even  once  more,  unless  you  pay  my 
knights.  By  what  right  do  you  take  the  gifts  made  to 
the  Sepulchre  by  the  pilgrims,  and  change  them  into 
delicacies,  while  we,  who  have  purchased  the  city  with 
our  blood,  who  bear  incessantly  so  many  fatigues  and 
combats,  are  deprived  of  the  fruits  of  their  generosity  ? 
Drink  with  us  of  the  cup  that  we  drink  now,  and 
shall  continue  to  drink  in  these  times  of  bitterness,  or 
prepare  yourself  to  receive  no  more  the  goods  which 
belong  to  the  church.'  Upon  which  the  patriarch,  little 
used  to  have  things  set  forth  in  this  plain  and  unmis- 
takable manner,  allowed  himself  to  fall  into  wrath,  and 
made  use  of  the  effective  but  well-worn  text,  that  those 


248  JERUSALEM. 


who  serve  the  altar  must  live  by  the  altar.  But  he 
hardly,  as  yet,  knew  his  man.  The  king,  actually  not 
afraid  of  a  priest,  swore  again,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  and  in  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  the  legate, 
Cardinal  Maurice,  that  if  the  patriarch  refused  to  help 
him  he  would  help  himself.  There  was,  indeed,  little 
doubt  possible  but  that  he  would  keep  his  word. 
Dagobert,  therefore,  gave  way,  and  promised  to 
maintain  thirty  knights.  But  he  soon  got  into  arrears, 
and,  finally,  after  repeated  quarrels  with  the  king,  and 
after  being  publicly  accused  of  peculation — very  possibly 
he  stole  right  and  left  for  the  glory  of  the  Church — he 
retired  to  Antioch,  hoping  that  Bohemond  would  take 
up  his  quarrel.  In  this  he  was  disappointed,  for 
Bohemond  had  neither  the  power  nor  the  inclination. 
Dagobert  never  returned  to  the  city.  Affecting  to  con- 
sider him  deposed,  the  king  put  in  his  place  a  humble 
and  pious  monk  of  great  ignorance,  named  Ebremer. 
He,  however,  was  speedily  displaced,  and  on  the  deposi- 
tion of  Dagobert,  Arnold  was  at  last  promoted  to  the 
see.  He  died  a  year  or  two  afterwards,  and  in  his 
death  William  of  Tyre  sees  a  plainly-marked  indica- 
tion of  the  Divine  displeasure.  By  others  it  may  be 
read  differently. 

The  career  of  Bohemond  was  drawing  to  an  end. 
Shut  up  in  Antioch,  and  attacked  both  by  Greeks  and 
Saracens,  he  could  hardly  defend  himself.  But  his 
spirit  was  as  strong  as  ever.  Causing  a  rumour  to  be 
spread  that  he  was  dead,  he  was  carried  in  a  coffin  on 
board  a  ship,  and  escaped  thus  through  the  Greek  fleet. 
Arrived  in  Italy,  he  went  to  the  pope,  and  with  all  his 
rough  and  strong  eloquence  he  pleaded  his  cause,  which 
he  represented  as  that  of  the  Christians  against  the 
Greek   emperor,   the  most  flagrant  of  criminals.     He 


DEA  TH  OF  RA  YMOND.  249 

went  thence  to  France,  with  the  pope's  express 
authority,  to  raise  men  for  another  Crusade,  this  time 
against  Alexis.  King  Philip  gave  him  his  daughter, 
Constance,  in  marriage ;  the  princes  and  knights  en- 
rolled themselves  in  his  army  ;  he  crossed  over  to  Spain, 
and  thence  to  Italy,  finding  everywhere  the  same 
success,  and  awakening  the  same  enthusiasm.  His 
army  assembled.  He  led  them  first  to  the  city  of 
Durazzo,  which  he  attacked,  but  without  success;  the 
city  held  out ;  his  troops,  who  discovered  that  they  had 
enlisted  under  his  banner  solely  to  advance  his  personal 
interest  and  to  gratify  his  blind  and  unreasoning  hatred 
against  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  deserted  him ; 
and  the  proud  Norman  had  to  return  to  Tarento  no 
richer,  except  by  Antioch,  for  all  his  conquests  and 
ambitions.  A  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  emperor, 
which  gave  him  this  city.  He  was  preparing  to  break 
the  conditions  of  the  agreement  when  a  fever  seized 
him,  and  he  died,  greatly  to  the  relief  of  Alexis. 

About  the  same  time  died  gallant  old  Raymond  of 
Toulouse,  still  fighting  at  Tripoli.  He  was  besieging 
the  town  with  only  four  hundred  men  at  his  back,  and 
with  that  heroic  self-confidence  which  never  deserted 
the  first  Crusaders,  when  either  some  smoke  from 
Greek  fire  affected  him,  or  he  fell  from  the  roof  of  a 
house,  and  so  came  to  an  end. 

Tancred,  the  bravest,  if  not  the  best,  of  all,  was  to 
follow  within  a  very  few  years,  and  Baldwin  found 
himself  for  the  last  six  years  of  his  reign  without  a 
single  one  of  the  old  princes,  except  his  cousin,  Bald- 
win du  Bourg,  to  quarrel  with,  to  help,  or  to  look  to 
for  help.  And,  still  more  to  complicate  matters,  the  ex- 
pedition which  the  ambition  of  Bohemond  had  directed 
against  the  Greek  Empire  for  his  own  purposes  had 


250  JERUSALEM. 


alienated  the  sympathies,  such  as  they  were,  and  the 
assistance  of  the  Greek  Empire,  and  deprived  the 
Christian  Kingdom  of  every  hope  from  that  quarter. 
Then  Tancred  and  Baldwin  du  Bourg,  as  soon  as  the 
latter  got  his  release  from  captivity,  began  to  quarrel, 
and,  turn  by  turn,  called  in  the  assistance  of  the 
Saracens.  They  were  persuaded  to  desist  by  the  ex- 
hortations of  the  king,  who  told  Tancred  plainly  that 
unless  he  ceased  to  make  war  against  Christians,  all 
the  Christians  in  the  East  would  make  common  cause 
against  him.  The  only  resources  left  to  the  king  were 
those  derived  from  the  constant  influx  of  pilgrims,  and 
therefore  of  fighting  men,  and  the  assistance  he  derived 
from  the  annual  visit  of  the  Genoese  and  Pisan  fleets ; 
these  came,  actuated  solely  by  the  desire  for  merchan- 
dise and  plunder.  In  return  for  concessions  and  the 
chance  of  booty,  they  fought  the  Egyptian  fleets,  and 
co-operated  with  Baldwin  in  his  operations  against  sea- 
side places.  Thus,  in  1104,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  upon  the  town,  Baldwin  took  advantage  of  the 
presence  of  sixty-six  Genoese  galleys  to  lay  siege  to 
Acre.  He  invited  them  to  assist  him  in  his  enterprise, 
first,  for  the  love  of  Christ,  and  secondly,  in  the  hope 
of  reaping  a  golden  harvest  out  of  victory.  The 
Genoese  consented,  on  the  condition  of  receiving  a 
third  of  the  revenue,  and  perpetual  rights  which  would 
be  obtained  by  the  capture  of  the  place,  and  of  a  street 
being  entirely  given  up  to  themselves,  where  they 
might  exercise  their  own  laws  and  justice.  These 
conditions,  exorbitant  as  they  were,  were  accepted, 
and  siege  was  laid  in  due  form,  Baldwin  investing  the 
place  by  land  and  the  Genoese  by  sea.  The  time  was 
almost  gone  by  for  unconditional  surrender  and  capture 
by  assault,  and  the   Christians  fought  with   machines 


SIEGE  OF  TRIPOLI.  251 

and  rams  for  twenty  days  before  the  enemy  capitulated. 
And  it  was  then  only  on  honourable  terms.  The 
inhabitants  were  to  take  out  their  wives,  families,  and 
whatever  they  could  carry.  Those  who  preferred  to 
remain  behind  were  to  be  allowed  to  continue  in  the 
peaceful  occupation  of  their  homes,  on  condition  of 
paying  an  annual  tribute  to  the  king.  It  will  be  seen 
that  a  short  space  of  five  years  had  already  materially 
altered  the  relative  positions  of  Christians  and  Moham- 
medans. The  conditions  were  ill  kept,  for  a  large 
number  of  the  Saracens  were  massacred  by  the  unruly 
sailors,  and  Baldwin  seems  to  have  been  powerless  to 
interfere.  This  was,  however,  a  most  important 
position,  and  threw  open  a  convenient  harbour  for  the 
Genoese. 

Year  after  year  an  army  came  from  Egypt  and  at- 
tempted an  invasion  of  Palestine,  using  Ascalon  as  the 
basis  of  operations  and  the  depot  of  supplies.  But  every 
year  the  attack  grew  more  feeble  and  the  rout  of  the 
Egyptians  more  easy. 

The  next  important  place  attacked  by  the  help  of  the 
Genoese  was  Tripoli.  After  the  death  of  Count  Ray- 
mond, his  affairs  in  the  East  were  conducted  by  his 
nephew,  William  of  Cerdagne,  until  Bertram,  Ray- 
mond's son,  should  arrive.  He  came  in  nog,  and 
immediately  began  to  quarrel  with  his  cousin,  who 
called  in  the  aid  of  Tancred.  Baldwin,  however,  in- 
terfered and  substituted  a  settlement  of  all  the  disputed 
points  between  them.  By  his  arrangement  William 
kept  all  the  places  he  had  himself  conquered,  and 
Bertram  had  the  rest.  Moreover,  if  either  died  without 
heirs,  Bertram  was  to  have  all.  A  short  time  after, 
William  was  accidentally  killed  by  an  arrow  in  trying  to 
settle  a  quarrel  among  his  men-at-arms,  and  tranquillity 


252  JERUSALEM. 


among  the  princes  was  assured.  Operations,  mean- 
time, had  been  going  on  against  the  little  town  of 
Biblios,  which  succumbed,  after  a  show  of  resistance, 
on  the  same  terms  as  those  obtained  by  the  people  of 
Acre.  The  strong  places  which  still  held  out  were 
Tripoli,  Tyre,  Sidon,  Beyrout,  and  Ascalon.  Baldwin's 
plan  was  to  take  them  in  detail,  and  always  by  the  aid 
of  the  Genoese  fleet.  He  joined  his  forces  to  those  of 
Bertram,  and  the  siege  of  Tripoli  was  vigorously  taken 
in  hand. 

It  illustrates  the  untrustworthy  character  of  the 
materials  from  which  a  history  of  this  kingdom  has  to 
be  drawn  that  Albert  of  Aix,  one  of  the  most  careful  of 
the  chroniclers,  absolutely  passes  over  the  capture  of 
this  important  place  in  silence.  The  inhabitants  de- 
fended themselves  as  well  as  they  were  able,  but  seeing 
no  hope  of  assistance,  they  capitulated  on  conditions 
of  safety.  These  were  granted,  but  pending  the  nego- 
tiations, the  savage  Genoese  sailors,  getting  over  the 
wall  by  means  of  ladders  and  ropes,  began  to  slaughter 
the  people.  '  Every  Saracen,'  says  Foulcher  de 
Chartres,  who  has  a  touch  of  humour,  '  who  fell  into 
their  hands,  experienced  no  worse  misfortune  than  to 
lose  his  head ;  and  although  this  was  done  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  chiefs,  the  heads  thus  lost  could 
not  be  afterwards  put  on  again.'  All  the  chronicles 
but  one  agree  in  preserving  silence  over  a  barbarism 
almost  worse  than  the  breaking  of  a  treaty.  It  was 
this  :  the  Christians  found  in  Tripoli  a  splendid  library. 
It  had  been  collected  in  the  course  of  many  peaceful 
years  by  the  family  of  Ibn-Ammar,  who  were  the 
hereditary  princes,  under  the  Caliph  of  Cairo,  of  the 
place.  It  consisted  of  a  hundred  thousand  volumes, 
and  a  wretched  priest  blundering  into  the  place,  and 


SIEGE  OF  TRIPOLI.  253 

finding  this  enormous  mass  of  books  written  in 
1  execrable,'  because  unknown  characters,  called  in  the 
assistance  of  soldiers  as  ignorant  as  himself,  and 
destroyed  them  all.  The  Tripolitans  had,  many  years 
before,  placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the 
Egyptian  Caliph.  They  looked  now  for  his  help.  In 
the  midst  of  the  siege  a  ship  managed  to  put  in  with  a 
message  from  the  sovereign.  He  promised  them  no 
assistance,  and  encouraged  them  to  no  resistance. 
Only  he  recollected  that  there  was  in  the  city  a 
beautiful  female  slave  whom  he  desired  to  be  sent  to 
him,  and  asked  for  some  wood  of  the  apricot-tree  to 
make  him  lutes.     After  this  the  people  capitulated. 

The  next  place  to  fall  was  Beyrout,  and  through  the 
same  assistance.  But  in  this  case  the  place  was  carried 
by  assault,  and  a  terrible  carnage  ensued,  stayed  only 
by  the  order  of  the  king.  And  after  the  victory  and 
the  conquest  of  Sarepta,  the  Genoese  retired,  carrying 
with  them  very  many  of  Baldwin's  best  auxiliaries,  and 
left  him  with  his  usual  small  force,  barely  enough  for 
purposes  of  defence.  But  fortune  favoured  him  again. 
The  fame  of  the  Crusades  had  taken  a  long  time  to 
travel  northwards,  but  in  time  it  had  reached  to 
Norway  and  kindled  the  enthusiasm  even  of  the  Scan- 
dinavians. Hardly  had  the  Genoese  left  the  shores  of 
Palestine,  when  Sigurd,  son  or  brother  of  King  Magnus 
of  Norway,  arrived  at  Jaffa  with  ten  thousand  Nor- 
wegians, among  whom  were  a  large  number  of  English. 
He  was  a  young  man,  says  Foulcher,  of  singular 
beauty,  and  was  welcomed  by  Baldwin  with  all  the 
charm  of  manner  which  made  him  the  friend  of  all 
whom  he  desired  to  please.  The  sturdy  Norsemen, 
who  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  fight  with  the 
Saracens,  met  the  king's  wishes  half-way.     They  were 


254  JERUSALEM. 


ready  to  go  wherever  he  pleased,  provided  it  led  to 
fighting,  and  without  any  other  pay  than  their  pro- 
visions. These  were  better  allies  than  the  greedy 
Genoese,  and  Baldwin  joyfully  led  them  to  Sidon, 
where  for  a  little  while  they  had  fighting  enough.  The 
Sidonians,  seeing  no  hope  of  escape,  endeavoured,  says 
William  of  Tyre,  to  compass  their  own  deliverance  by 
the  assassination  of  the  king.  Baldwin  had  a  Saracen 
servant  who  professed  extreme  attachment  to  his 
person.  He  had  apostatized  to  the  Christian  faith, 
and  received  the  king's  own  name  at  the  font  of  bap- 
tism. To  him  the  chiefs  of  Sidon  made  overtures. 
They  offered  him  boundless  wealth  in  their  city,  if  he 
would  contrive  to  assassinate  the  king.  Baldwin  the 
servant  agreed  to  commit  the  deed,  and  would  have 
done  it,  had  it  not  been  that  certain  Christians  in  the 
city,  getting  to  know  of  the  plot,  conveyed  information 
of  it  by  means  of  an  arrow  which  they  fired  into  the 
camp.  The  king  called  a  council.  The  unfortunate 
servant  was  '  examined,'  which  probably  meant  tor- 
tured, confessed  his  guilty  intentions,  and  was  promptly 
hanged.  This  appears  to  be  the  first  mention  of  an 
attempted  assassination,  a  method  which  the  Sara- 
cens, by  means  of  the  celebrated  Ismaelite  sect,  the 
*  Assassins,'  introduced  much  later  on.  The  story 
bears  the  impress  of  improbability.  Moreover,  imme- 
diately afterwards,  we  are  told  that  Baldwin  granted 
the  city  easy  terms  of  capitulation,  with  permission  for 
the  inhabitants  to  stay  where  they  were,  provided  only 
they  paid  tribute.  The  conditions  were  faithfully 
observed,  the  Norwegians  being  either  less  blood- 
thirsty or. more  amenable  to  discipline — probably  both 
— than  the  Genoese.  They  went  away  after  this,  and 
Baldwin,   having    made    an    unsuccessful    attempt    on 


JOCELYN  AND  BALDWIN.  255 

Tyre,  which  was  too  strong  for  his  diminished  forces, 
retired  to  Acre.  In  the  same  year  died  Tancred,  who 
recommended  his  young  wife,  Cecilia,  to  marry  Pons, 
the  son  of  Bertram,  who  was  already  dead,  as  soon  as 
he  should  be  of  age.  Roger,  the  son  of  his  sister,  was 
to  hold  all  his  states  in  trust  for  young  Bohemond  and 
Pons. 

During  these  contests  on  the  seaboard,  the  Saracens 
inland  had  been  quietly  composing  their  differences  and 
arranging  for  a  combined  assault  upon  the  common 
enemy.  In  1112  they  had  essayed  an  expedition 
against  Edessa,  but  received  a  check  serious  enough 
to  make  them  fall  back  in  disorder.  Next  year,  with  a 
far  larger  force,  they  formed  a  sort  of  encampment 
south  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  and  overran  the  country, 
pillaging  and  burning  as  far  as  they  dared.  Baldwin 
hastily  sent  for  Roger  of  Antioch  and  the  Count  of 
Tripoli  to  come  to  his  assistance.  Meantime,  with  a 
small  army,  of  about  five  thousand  in  all,  he  marched  to 
meet  them.  With  his  usual  impetuosity  he  charged 
into  a  small  advance  troop  of  cavalry  which  the  Turks 
threw  out  as  a  trap.  These  turned  and  fled.  Baldwin 
pursued,  but  fell  into  an  ambuscade,  whence  he  escaped 
with  the  greatest  difficulty,  leaving  his  banner,  that 
white  streamer  which  he  bore  at  the  head  of  his  troops 
in  every  battle,  behind  him.  The  patriarch,  now  that 
same  Arnold,  '  Satan's  eldest  son,'  who  was  with  him, 
had,  too,  a  narrow  escape.  In  this  disastrous  day  the 
Christians  lost  about  twelve  hundred  men.  Next  morn- 
ing came  the  king's  auxiliaries,  and  the  Christian  army, 
leaving  their  camp  and  baggage,  retreated  into  the 
mountains,  where  they  waited  for  reinforcements. 
This  was  the  most  serious  check  yet  given  to  the 
victorious   career  of  the    Christians.     The  people    of 


256  JERUSALEM. 

Ascalon,  as  usual,  ready  to  take  advantage  of  every 
opportunity,  sallied  forth  and  invested  Jerusalem,  now 
almost  entirely  without  troops.  But  they  do  not  seem 
to  have  attempted  a  regular  siege,  or,  at  least,  were  un- 
successful, and,  after  ravaging  the  country  for  miles 
round,  they  retreated  to  their  own  city.  Probably 
their  experience  of  Baldwin's  vigour  was  greater  than 
their  confidence  in  the  success  of  their  co-religionists, 
and  they  thought  certain  plunder  was  better  than  the 
dubious  chances  of  a  protracted  siege. 

Fortunately  it  was  now  late  in  the  summer.  With 
the  autumn  came  the  first  shiploads  of  pilgrims  and 
consequently  reinforcements  for  Baldwin.  The  Sara- 
cens, satisfied  with  their  victory,  and  fearing  reprisals, 
judged  it  prudent  to  retire,  and  accordingly  fell  back  on 
Damascus,  where  their  general-in-chief,  Maudud,  was 
murdered.  It  was  well  for  the  Christian  kingdom  that 
they  went  away  when  they  did.  For  a  universal  panic 
had  seized  on  all  the  cities,  and  it  wanted  but  an  un- 
successful engagement  to  put  an  end  to  the  Christian 
power  altogether.  More  misfortunes  fell  upon  them. 
There  was  a  terrible  famine  at  Edessa  and  in  Antioch  ; 
and  an  earthquake  was  felt  through  the  whole  of  Syria, 
from  north  to  south.  Whole  cities  of  Cilicia  were 
thrown  into  ruins.  Thirteen  towns  fell  in  Edessa  ;  and 
in  Antioch  many  churches  were  destroyed.  In  the 
famine  which  devastated  Edessa,  Baldwin  du  Bourg 
looked  for  aid  from  Count  Jocelyn,  but  was  dis- 
appointed. Moreover,  when  he  sent  deputies  to 
Antioch,  these  werejnsulted  by  Jocelyn's  knights,  who 
taunted  them  with  the  apathy  and  indolence  of  their 
lord.  Baldwin  du  Bourg  determined  on  revenge. 
Pretending  to  be  sick,  he  sent  for  Jocelyn,  who  came 
without  suspicion,  and  was  received  by  the  other   in 


JOCELYN  AND  BALDWIN.  257 

bed.  Then,  reproaching  hiin  in  the  bitterest  terms  for 
ingratitude,  he  ordered  him  to  be  thrown  into  prison, 
loaded  with  chains,  and  deprived  him  of  all  his  posses- 
sions. As  soon  as  Jocelyn  was  free  he  went  to  join  the 
king  at  Jerusalem,  and  seems,  like  an  honest  knight 
and  good  fellow,  as  he  was,  to  have  entirely  forgiven 
his  ill-treatment.     Certainly  he  deserved  it. 

The  next  year  saw  another  defeat  of  the  Saracens. 
The  Emir  was  accused  of  complicity  in  the  murder  of 
Maudud,  and  a  vast  army  was  gathered  together, 
against  Damascus  in  the  first  instance,  and  the 
Christians  in  the  second.  Baldwin  entered  into 
alliance  with  the  Emir,  and  though  the  Caliph's  army 
avoided  a  battle,  so  formidable  a  coalition  sufficed  to 
drive  back  the  invaders.  Nevertheless,  the  Christians 
looked  with  horror  on  an  alliance  so  unnatural.  Count 
Roger  of  Antioch  at  the  same  time  dispersed  the 
Turkish  army  in  alliance  with  Toghtegin,  and  for  a 
time  at  least  Palestine  was  free  from  enemies  on  the 
north  and  east. 

Baldwin  was  not,  however,  disposed  to  sit  down  in 
peace  and  rest.  He  employed  what  little  leisure  he 
could  get  in  populating  his  city  of  Jerusalem  by  per- 
suading the  Christians  across  the  Jordan  to  give  up 
their  pastures  and  meadows,  and  come  under  his  pro- 
tection. He  founded  the  stronghold  of  Montreal,  in 
Moab,  on  the  site  of  the  old  city  of  Diban,  and  he 
made  a  second  journey  to  the  east  and  south  of  his 
kingdom,  with  twelve  hundred  horse  and  four  hundred 
foot,  penetrating  as  far,  we  are  told,  as  the  Red  Sea, 
probably  to  Petra — Albert  of  Aix  says  Horeb,  '  where 
he  built  in  eighteen  days  a  new  castle.'  These  affairs 
being  settled,  and  there  being  every  appearance  of 
tranquillity  in  all  directions,  he  turned  his  thoughts  to 

17 


258  JERUSALEM. 


the  conquest  of  Egypt,  and  actually  set  off  to  accomplish 
this  with  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen  knights 
and  four  hundred  foot  soldiers.  They  penetrated  as  far 
as  Pharamia,  near  the  ancient  Pelusium,  which  the  in- 
habitants abandoned  in  a  panic.  They  found  here 
food  and  drink  in  plenty,  and  rested  for  two  whole 
days.  On  the  third,  certain  of  the  more  prudent  came 
to  Baldwin  :  '  We  are  few  in  number,'  they  said  ;  '  our 
arrival  is  known  in  all  the  country  ;  it  is  only  three  days' 
march  from  here  to  Cairo.  Let  us  therefore  take 
counsel  how  best  to  get  out  of  the  place.' 

The  king,  seeing  the  wisdom  of  this  advice,  ordered 
the  walls  to  be  thrown  down,  and  all  the  houses  of  the 
town  to  be  set  on  fire.  But  whether  it  was  the  heat  of 
the  day  or  the  effect  of  over-exertion,  he  felt  in  the 
evening  violent  pains  which  increased  hourly.  To  be 
sick  in  the  East  was  then  to  be  on  the  point  of  death, 
and,  despairing  of  recovery,  he  sent  for  his  chiefs,  and 
acquainted  them  with  the  certainty  of  his  end.  All 
burst  into  tears  and  lamentations,  quite  selfishly,  it 
would  seem,  and  on  their  own  accounts,  '  for  no  one 
had  any  hope,  from  that  moment,  of  ever  seeing 
Jerusalem  again.'  Then  the  king  raised  himself  and 
spoke  to  them,  despite  his  sufferings.  'Why,  my 
brothers  and  companions  in  arms,  should  the  death  of 
a  single  man  strike  down  your  hearts  and  oppress  you 
with  feebleness  in  this  land  of  pilgrimage,  and  in  the 
midst  of  our  enemies  ?  Remember,  in  the  name  of 
God,  that  there  are  many  among  you  whose  strength  is 
as  great  or  greater  than  mine.  Quit  yourselves,  then, 
like  men,  and  devise  the  means  of  returning  sword  in 
hand,  and  maintaining  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem 
according  to  your  oaths.'  And  then,  as  if  for  a  last 
prayer,  he  implored  them  not  to  bury  his  body  in  the 


DEA  TH  OF  BALD  WIN.  259 

land  of  the  stranger,  but  to  take  it  to  Jerusalem,  and  lay 
it  beside  his  brother  Godfrey.  His  soldiers  burst  into 
tears.  How  could  they  carry,  in  the  heat  of  summer, 
his  body  so  far  ?  But  the  king  sent  for  Odo,  his  cook. 
'Know,'  he  said,  '  that  I  am  about  to  die.  If  you  have 
loved  me  in  health,  preserve  your  fidelity  in  death. 
Open  my  body  as  soon  as  the  breath  is  out  of  it,  fill  me 
with  salt  and  spice,  and  bear  me  to  Jerusalem,  to  be 
buried  in  the  forms  of  the  Church.' 

They  bore  him  along,  still  living.  On  the  third  day 
of  the  week  the  end  came,  and  Baldwin  died.  With 
his  last  breath  he  named  his  brother  Eustace  as  his 
successor,  but  if  he  would  not  take  the  crown,  he  gave 
them  liberty  to  choose  any  other.  Odo  the  cook 
executed  his  wishes  ;  his  bowels  were  buried  at  Al 
Arish,  and  the  little  army,  in  sadness  and  with  mis- 
givings of  evil,  returned  to  Jerusalem,  bringing  with 
them  the  king  who  had  so  often  led  them  to  victory. 

It  was  on  Palm  Sunday  when  they  arrived.  They 
met,  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  the  people  of  the 
city  all  dressed  in  festival  garb,  and  singing  psalms  of 
joy,  to  celebrate  the  feast.  Joy  was  turned  into  mourn- 
ing, and  the  procession  of  clergy  which  was  descending 
the  Mount  of  Olives  met,  '  by  express  order  of  God,  and 
an  inconceivable  chance,'  the  little  troop  which  bore 
back  the  remains  of  the  king.  They  buried  him  beside 
his  brother ;  Baldwin  du  Bourg,  the  Count  of  Edessa, 
being  the  chief  mourner,  as  he  was  his  nearest  re- 
lation.* 

So   died  the  greatest   of  the   Christian   kings,    the 

*  The  epitaph  on  his  tomb  described  him  as 

'  Judae  alter  Machabaeus 
Spes  patrice,  vigor  ecclesice.' 

It  was  obviously  not  written  by  the  Patriarch  Dagobert. 

17 — 2 


260  JERUSALEM. 


strongest  as  well  as  the  wisest.  His  faults  were  those 
of  the  age ;  he  was,  however,  before  the  age ;  not  so 
cruel,  not  so  ignorant,  not  so  superstitious,  not  so 
bigoted.  He  was  among  the  first  to  recognise  the  fact 
that  a  man  may  be  an  infidel  and  yet  be  worthy  of 
friendship;  he  was,  also  the  first  to  resist  the  extravagant 
pretensions  of  the  Church,  and  the  greed  of  the  Latin 
priests.  He  was,  like  his  brother,  the  defender  by  oath 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  but  he  would  not  consent  to 
become  a  mere  servant  of  the  patriarch  while  he  was 
styled  the  king  of  the  country.  We  have  stated  above 
that  his  chief  fault  was  an  excessive  love  of  women,  and 
this  he  was  wise  enough  to  conceal.  But  the  charge  is 
brought  forward  by  his  priestly  biographers,  who,  which 
is  significant,  do  not  advance  against  him  a  single 
definite  case  to  support  it.  William  of  Tyre  wanted 
something,  perhaps,  to  allege  against  a  man  who  dared 
beard  a  bishop  at  his  own  table  and  swear  at  his 
gluttony  and  luxury.  In  any  case  he  had  very  little 
leisure  for  indulgence  in  vice.  He  married  three  times, 
his  first  wife  being  an  Englishwoman,  who  died  on  her 
way  out.  His  second  was  the  daughter  of  an  Armenian 
prince,  whom  he  divorced  on  the  charge  of  adultery. 
Dagobert  maintained  that  she  was  innocent,  probably 
with  a  view  to  blacken  the  character  of  the  king,  but  the 
divorced  queen,  going  to  Constantinople,  justified  by 
her  conduct  there  the  worst  accusations  that  could  be 
brought  against  her.  The  third  time  he  married  the 
widow  of  Roger,  Count  of  Sicily,  Adelaide  by  name. 
She  brought  whole  shiploads  of  treasure  with  her  ;  the 
marriage  was  celebrated  with  every  demonstration  of 
joy,  and  the  new  queen's  generosity  caused  rejoicing 
through  all  the  land.  But  the  year  before  he  died,  and 
three  years  after  the  marriage,  Baldwin  had  an  illness 


DEA  TH  OF  BALD  WIN.  26 1 

which  led  him  to  reflect  on  a  marriage  contracted  while 
his  divorced  wife  was  still  living,  and  he  sent  her  back. 
It  was  an  unlucky  wedding  for  the  country,  because  the 
Normans  in  Sicily  could  not  forgive  this  treatment  of 
one  of  their  blood,  and  thus  another  powerful  ally  was 
lost  to  the  kingdom.  As  for  Adelaide,  she  returned  to 
Sicily  filled  with  shame  and  rage,  and  died  the  same 
year  as  her  husband. 

In  that  year,  too,  died  Alexis  Comnenus,  Pascal,  the 
pope,  and  Arnold,  the  patriarch.  Foulcher  of  Chartres 
is  careful  to  tell  us  that  he  saw  himself  that  very  year 
a  red  light  in  the  heavens  at  dead  of  night.  It  cer- 
tainly portended  something,  most  probably  something 
disastrous.  '  Quite  uncertain  as  to  what  the  event 
might  prove,  we  left  it  in  all  humility,  and  unani- 
mously, to  the  will  of  the  Lord.  Some  of  us,  neverthe- 
less, saw  in  the  prodigy  a  presage  of  the  deaths  of 
those  great  persons  who  died  that  same  year.'  Which 
doubtless  it  was. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

KING    BALDWIN    II.      A.D.    IIl8 — II3I. 

'  Veramente  e  costui  nato  all'  impero 
Si  del  regnar  del  commandar  sa  Tarti  ; 
E  non  minor  che  duce  e  cavaliere.' 

As  the  soldiers  bearing  the  body  of  King  Baldwin 
entered  the  city  at  one  gate,  his  cousin,  Baldwin  du 
Bourg,  Count  of  Edessa,  came  in  at  another.  He 
was  in  time  to  be  present  at  the  funeral.  Immediately 
afterwards  a  council  was  held  to  determine  on  his  suc- 
cessor. On  the  one  hand,  by  the  laws  of  succession, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  king's  own  request,  Eustace, 
his  brother,  should  have  been  the  heir.  But  Eustace 
was  in  France.  It  would  have  been  many  months 
before  he  could  be  brought  to  Palestine,  and  the  state 
of  affairs  brooked  no  delay.  While  the  minds  of  the 
electing  council  were  still  uncertain  what  to  do,  Jocelyn 
stood  up  and  spoke :  '  We  have  here,'  he  said,  '  the 
Count  of  Edessa,  a  just  man,  and  one  who  fears  God, 
the  cousin  of  the  late  king,  valiant  in  battle,  and 
worthy  of  praise  on  all  points ;  no  country  could 
furnish  us  a  better  king  ;  it  were  better  to  choose  him 
at  once  than  wait  for  chances  full  of  peril.' 

Jocelyn  was  the  old  enemy  of  Baldwin ;  he  was 
supposed,  but  unjustly,  to  bear  him  a  grudge  for  the 
ill-treatment  he  had  received  at  the  count's  hands ;  his 


BALDWIN  DU  BOURG.  263 

advice,  therefore,  bore  the  more  weight,  as  it  seemed 
entirely  disinterested.  Arnold,  the  patriarch,  seconded 
him,  and  Baldwin  was  chosen  king  unanimously. 
Whether  Jocelyn's  advice  was  altogether  disinter- 
ested may  be  doubted.  At  all  events  he  received  from 
the  new  king  the  investiture  of  the  principality  of 
Edessa,  as  a  reward  for  his  services.  Baldwin  was 
crowned,  like  his  predecessor,  in  Bethlehem,  on  Ascen- 
sion Day. 

The  new  king,  the  date  of  whose  birth  is  uncertain, 
was  the  son  of  Count  Hugh  of  Rethel  and  his  wife 
Milicent.  He  was  the  cousin  of  Godfrey,  with  whom 
he  started  for  Palestine.  He  had  two  brothers,  one  of 
whom  was  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  the  other 
succeeded  his  father;  but  dying  without  children,  the 
archbishop  gave  up  his  episcopate,  and  married,  in 
order  to  continue  the  family.  Baldwin  himself  was 
above  the  ordinary  stature,  wonderfully  active,  skilful 
in  horsemanship,  and  of  great  strength  and  bravery. 
His  hair,  we  are  told,  was  thin  and  fair,  and  already 
streaked  with  gray.  He  was  married  to  an  Armenian 
princess,  by  whom  he  had  several  daughters,  but  no 
sons.  He  wore  a  long  Oriental  beard,  but  though  he 
conformed  in  many  respects  to  Eastern  habits,  he  had 
not  forgotten  his  early  piety,  and  scrupulously  obeyed 
the  rules  of  the  Church,  insomuch  that  we  are  told  that 
his  knees  were  covered  with  callosities,  the  result  of 
j  many  prayers  and  penances.  He  was  already  well 
advanced  in  years. 

Count  Eustace,  hearing  in  France  of  his  brother's 
death,  set  off  at  once  to  take  possession  of  the  kingdom 
which  was  his  by  right  of  succession.  But  on  arriving 
in  Apulia,  he  heard  the  news  of  Baldwin's  succession, 
and  immediately  turned  back,  content   to  spend  the 


264  JERUSALEM. 


rest  of  his  days  in  obscurity,  rather  than  disturb  the 
peace  of  Palestine  by  an  unseemly  rivalry. 

The  first  year  of  the  king's  reign  was  marked  by  the 
customary  invasion  of  the  kingdom  from  Egypt  and 
the  dispersion,  this  time  without  a  battle,  of  the  in- 
vaders. The  next  was  a  year  of  calamity.  For  Count 
Roger  of  Aleppo,  with  his  little  army,  was  utterly  de- 
feated by  the  Turks,  the  count  himself  being  slain,  and 
a  large  number  of  his  knights  taken  prisoner  and  treated 
with  the  greatest  cruelty.  Nor  was  this  all.  Ilgazi, 
the  Prince  of  Aleppo,  who  had  defeated  Roger,  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  much  abler  nephew,  Balak, 
who  made  an  incursion  into  the  territory  of  Edessa, 
and  captured  Count  Jocelyn  with  his  nephew,  Galeran, 
and  sixty  knights.  Thus  the  two  most  important  out- 
lying provinces  were  deprived  of  their  rulers.  More- 
over, the  whole  country  was  afflicted  with  countless 
swarms  of  locusts  and  rats,  which  devoured  every 
green  thing,  so  that  the  Christians  were  threatened 
with  famine.  Baldwin  called  together  a  general  council 
at  Nablous,  and  the  patriarch  preached  to  the  people 
on  the  sinfulness  of  their  lives,  pointing  out  that  their 
afflictions  were  due  to  their  own  crimes  and  excesses, 
and  calling  on  them  to  amend  and  lead  better  lives. 
After  confession  and  protestations  of  repentance,  the 
king  and  his  army  moved  northwards  to  Antioch  and 
defeated  the  Turks  in  their  turn. 

Certain  small  changes  in  the  internal  administration, 
only  of  importance  as  pointing  to  the  decadence  of  the 
old  ferocity  against  the  Saracens,  were  introduced  by 
the  king  in  Jerusalem.  For,  besides  remitting  the  old 
heavy  dues  on  exportation  and  importation,  so  far  as 
the  Latins  were  concerned,  Baldwin  granted  a  sort  of 
free  trade  to  all  Syrians,  Greeks,  '  and  even  Saracens,' 


CAPTIVITY  OF  THE  KING.  265 

to  bring  provisions  of  all  kinds  into  the  city  for  sale 
without  fear  of  exaction.  His  wise  idea  was  to  increase 
the  population  of  the  city,  and  therefore  its  strength, 
by  making  it  the  most  privileged  town  in  his  realm,  and 
the  central  market  of  Palestine. 

But  in  1 124  a  misfortune  fell  upon  him  which  might 
have  been  fatal  to  his  kingdom.  For,  after  Jocelyn's 
capture,  he  led  his  forces  into  Edessa,  and  there, 
marching  one  night  in  February,  without  taking  proper 
precautions,  his  men  being  allowed  to  disperse  in  various 
directions,  he  fell  into  an  ambuscade,  and  was  made 
prisoner  himself  by  Balak,  who  sent  him  in  irons  to  the 
fortress  of  Khortbert. 

And  now  the  country  was  without  a  ruler.  In  this 
emergency,  the  barons  assembled  at  Acre  and  elected 
as  Regent,  Eustace  Gamier,  the  Baron  of  Sidon  and 
Caesarea,  who  proved  worthy  of  their  confidence. 
The  story  of  the  king's  captivity  is  like  a  chapter  of  a 
romance.  For  while  he  was  in  fetters  with  Jocelyn  at 
Khortbert,  certain  Armenians,  fifty  in  number,  swore  a 
solemn  oath  to  one  another  that  the  king  should  be 
released.  Disguising  themselves  as  monks,*  and 
hiding  daggers  under  their  long  robes,  they  went  to 
the  citadel,  and  putting  on  a  melancholy  and  injured 
air,  they  pretended  to  have  been  attacked  and  robbed 
on  the  road,  and  demanded  to  be  admitted  to  the 
governor  of  the  castle,  in  order  to  have  redress.  They 
were  allowed  to  enter,  and  directly  they  got  within  the 
walls  they  drew  out  their  weapons,  slaughtered  every 
Saracen,  made  themselves  masters  of  the  place,  and 
released  the  king  from  his  fetters.  But  not  from  his 
prison,  for  the  Turks,  furious  at  the  intelligence,  which 

*  This  is  William  of  Tyre's  account.  He  says  that,  according 
to  others,  they  were  disguised  as  merchants. 


266  JERUSALEM. 


spread  quickly  enough,  gathered  together  from  all 
quarters,  resolved  to  bar  their  escape  till  Balak  could 
send  reinforcements  strong  enough  to  retake  the  place. 
After  a  hurried  council,  it  was  resolved  within  the  fort 
that  Jocelyn  should  attempt  the  perilous  task  of  escap- 
ing. Three  men  were  deputed  to  go  with  him,  two 
to  accompany  him  on  his  road,  and  one  to  return  to 
the  king  with  the  news  that  he  had  safely  got  through 
the  enemy.  Jocelyn  took  a  solemn  oath  that  he  would 
lose  no  time  in  raising  an  army  of  assistance,  and  swore, 
besides,  that  he  would  neither  shave  his  beard  nor 
drink  wine  till  the  king  was  released.  He  then  slipped 
out  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  and  the  king,  resolved 
to  defend  the  castle  till  the  last,  set  to  work  on  his 
fortifications. 

That  night  Balak  had  a  fearful  dream.  He  thought 
that  he  met  the  terrible  Jocelyn,  alone  and  unprotected, 
and  that  the  Christian  knight,  hurling  him  to  the 
ground,  tore  out  both  his  eyes.  Awaking  with  fright, 
he  sent  off  messengers  in  hot  haste  to  behead  Jocelyn 
at  once.  They  arrived  too  late.  The  castle  was  taken 
and  the  bird  was  flown.  But  the  flight  of  the  count 
was  full  of  dangers.  He  got  safely  enough  to  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates,  but  here  an  unforeseen  difficulty  met 
him,  for  he  could  not  swim.  How  to  cross  the  river  ? 
They  had  two  leathern  bottles.  These,  inflated,  they 
tied  round  Jocelyn's  body,  and  the  other  two  men,  who 
could  swim,  steering  by  the  right  and  left,  managed  to 
get  him  across  the  water.  Then  they  went  on,  bare- 
footed, hungry,  and  thirsty,  till  Jocelyn  could  travel  no 
farther,  and,  covering  himself  with  branches,  in  order 
to  conceal  himself,  he  lay  down  to  sleep.  One  of  the 
attendants,  meantime,  was  sent  off  to  find  some  in- 
habitant of  the    country,  and  either  beg,  buy,  or  rob 


JOCELYN'S  ESCAPE.  267 

provisions  of  some  kind.  He  met  an  Armenian  peasant 
loaded  with  grapes  and  wild  figs,  whom  he  brought 
along  to  his  master.  The  peasant  knew  him.  'Hail, 
Lord  Jocelyn  !'  he  cried,  at  sight  of  the  ragged  knight. 
'At  these  words,'  says  Foulcher,  'which  the  count 
would  fain  not  have  heard,  he  replied,  all  in  alarm,  but 
nevertheless  with  mildness,  "  I  am  not  he  whom  you 
name ;  may  the  Lord  help  him  wherever  he  be." 

'  "  Seek  not,"  said  the  peasant,  "  to  conceal  thyself. 
Fear  nothing,  and  tell  me  what  evil  has  befallen  thee." 

'  "  Whoever  thou  art,"  said  the  count,  "  have  pity  on 
me  ;  do  not,  I  pray,  make  known  my  misfortune  to  my 
enemies ;  lead  me  into  some  place  where  I  may  be  in 
safety.  ...  I  am  a  fugitive  and  a  wanderer.  .  .  .  Tell 
me  what  property  thou  hast  in  this  place,  and  what  is 
its  value  ;  and  I  will  give  thee  property  of  far  more 
worth  in  my  own  dominion." 

1 "  Seigneur,  I  ask  nothing,"  replied  the  other.  "  I  will 
lead  thee  safe  and  sound  where  thou  wishest  to  go  ;  once 
thou  didst  deprive  thyself  of  bread  to  make  me  eat.  It 
is  now  my  turn.  I  have  a  wife,  an  only  daughter  of 
tender  years,  an  ass,  two  brothers,  and  two  oxen.  I 
will  go  with  thee  and  carry  everything  away.  I  have 
also  a  pig,  which  I  will  bring  here  immediately." 

1  "  Nay,  my  brother,"  said  the  count,  "  a  whole  pig 
may  not  be  eaten  in  a  single  meal,  and  we  must  not 
excite  suspicions."  ' 

The  peasant  went  away,  and  presently  returned  with 
all  his  family — though,  curiously  enough,  Foulcher  says 
nothing  at  all  about  his  wife.  Perhaps  she  was  left 
behind,  like  Creusa.  The  count  mounts  the  ass,  takes 
the  child  in  his  arms,  and  they  start.  On  the  road 
the  child  began  to  cry,  and  '  to  torment  the  count  with 
its   wailing.'      He  did   not  know  how  to  appease  it ; 


268  JERUSALEM. 


-  for  Jocelyn  had  never  learned  the  art  of  soothing 
infants  by  caresses  ;'  he  began  at  first  to  think  of  throw- 
ing away  the  baby,  or  of  leaving  it  by  the  wayside, 
and  so  getting  rid  of  a  travelling  companion  who  might 
bring  them  all  to  grief;  but,  'perceiving  that  this 
project  did  not  please  the  peasant,  and  fearing  to  afflict 
him,'  he  continued,  with  the  greatest  consideration,  to 
endure  '  this  new  trouble,'  till  they  arrived  at  his  castle 
at  Turbessel,  where  there  was  great  rejoicing.  Can 
there  be  a  quainter  figure  than  this  of  the  count 
mounted  on  the  ass,  carrying  the  squalling  baby,  and 
divided  between  rage  at  its  screams  and  gratitude  to 
the  peasant,  his  deliverer  ? 

Meantime,  the  king  was  not  prospering.  Balak,  in 
a  rage  that  one  of  his  enemies  had  escaped  him, 
hastened  himself  to  the  castle  of  Khortbert  with  so 
large  an  army  as  to  deprive  Baldwin  of  any  hope  of 
success.  The  fort  was  built  on  a  chalk  hill  easy  to  cut 
into.  Balak  sent  sappers,  who  made  excavations  under 
the  principal  tower,  and  then,  filling  the  cavern  with 
wood,  he  set  fire  to  it.  When  the  wood  was  consumed 
the  chalk  was  softened  and  the  tower  came  down  with 
a  crash.  Then  Baldwin,  against  his  will,  surrendered 
unconditionally.  Life  was  granted  to  him,  to  Galeran, 
and  to  the  king's  nephew.  But  the  poor  faithful 
Armenians,  the  cause  of  Jocelyn's  escape  and  the 
massacre  of  the  garrison,  were  treated  with  the  most 
cruel  inhumanity.  All  were  murdered,  most  by  tor- 
tures of  the  most  horrid  description,  of  which  sawing 
in  halves  and  roasting  alive,  being  buried  alive,  and 
being  set  up  naked  as  marks  for  children  to  fire  arrows 
at,  are  given  as  a  few  specimens.  Jocelyn,  who  had 
been  hastily  collecting  an  army,  gave  up  the  design  of 
a  rescue  in  despair,  and  went  to  Jerusalem. 


THE   VENETIANS.  269 


And  then  the  Egyptians  made  a  formidable  incursion. 
This  time  things  looked  desperate  indeed.  A  rigorous 
fast  was  ordered.  Even  the  babes  at  the  breast  were 
denied  their  mothers'  milk,  and  the  very  cattle  were 
driven  off  their  pastures,  as  if  the  sight  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  these  helpless  creatures  would  incline  the 
Lord  to  pity.  At  least,  it  inclined  the  Christians  to 
fury.  They  issued  from  Jerusalem  to  the  sound  of  the 
great  bell,  under  Eustace  Gamier,  the  regent,  to  the 
number  of  three  thousand  combatants  only.  With 
them  was  carried  the  wood  of  the  true  Cross,  the  Holy 
Lance,  and  a  vase  containing  some  of  the  milk  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  Again  the  Christians  were  victorious, 
and  the  army  of  the  enemy  fled  in  panic  behind  the 
walls  of  Ascalon.  But  the  Christians  could  only  act  on 
the  defensive.  There  was  not  only  no  chance  of  ex- 
tending their  dominions,  but  even  only  a  slender  one  of 
keeping  them.  Relief  came,  in  the  shape  of  a  great 
Venetian  fleet. 

The  Venetians  had  held  serious  counsel  as  to  whether 
they  should  go  on  with  their  old  traffic  with  the  Mo- 
hammedans, by  which  they  had  enriched  themselves, 
or  should  imitate  the  example  of  their  rivals,  the 
Genoese,  and  make  money  out  of  the  Christians  in 
Palestine.  They  decided  on  the  latter  course,  and 
fitted  out  a  strong  and  well-armed  fleet.  On  the  way 
they  fought  two  victorious  battles,  one  with  their  rivals, 
the  Genoese,  returning  laden  with  the  proceeds  of  the 
season's  trade,  whom  they  stripped,  and  one  with  the 
Egyptian  fleet,  which  they  cut  to  pieces.  This  accom- 
plished, they  arrived  off  Palestine,  and  offered  to  make 
terms  for  assistance  in  a  year's  campaign.  Their 
terms,  like  those  of  the  Genoese,  were  hard.  They 
were  to  have,  if  a  town  was  taken,  a  church,  a  street, 


270  JERUSALEM. 


an  oven,  and  a  tribunal  of  their  own.  Of  course  these 
were  acceded  to.  To  find  money  to  pay  the  knights, 
the  regent  had  to  take  all  the  vessels  and  ornaments 
of  the  churches  and  melt  them  down. 

Of  all  the  towns  on  the  coast  between  Antioch  and 
Ascalon,  only  two  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Moham- 
medans. But  these  two  were  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance. For  while  Tyre  remained  a  Saracen  city  it 
could  be  made  the  centre  of  operations  against  the 
principality  of  Antioch  on  the  north  and  the  kingdom 
of  Palestine  on  the  south  ;  while  if  Ascalon  were  taken 
the  Egyptians  would  be  deprived  of  their  means  of 
attack,  and  would  be  obliged  to  invade  the  country 
through  the  desert.  Opinions  were  so  much  divided  on 
the  matter  that  it  was  decided  to  refer  the  decision  to 
lot,  and  a  child,  an  orphan,  was  selected  to  take  from 
the  altar  one  of  two  pieces  of  paper,  containing  the 
names  of  the  two  towns.  The  lot  fell  on  Tyre,  and 
Eustace  Gamier  marched  northwards,  with  all  the 
troops  that  he  could  raise. 

About  this  point  William  of  Tyre,  who  has  been 
gradually  passing  from  the  vague  hearsay  history  of 
events  which  happened  while  he  was  a  child  to  a  clear 
and  detailed  narrative  of  events  of  which  he  was  either 
a  spectator  or  a  contemporary,  becomes  more  and  more 
interesting.  We  cannot  afford  the  space,  nor  does  it 
fall  within  the  limits  of  this  volume,  to  give  more  than 
the  leading  incidents  in  the  fortunes  of  the  provinces  of 
the  Christian  kingdom.  We  cannot,  therefore,  linger 
over  the  details  of  this  siege,  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  safety  of  the  Christians.  The  town  belonged  to 
the  Caliph  of  Egypt,  who  held  two-thirds  of  it,  and  to 
the  Emir,  or  King,  of  Damascus,  who  owned  the  rest. 
The  Christian  army,  demoralized  by  the  absence  of  the 


SIEGE  OF  TYRE.  271 


king,  and  disheartened  by  the  reverses  which  of  late  had 
attended  their  efforts,  began  badly.  They  murmured 
at  the  hardships  and  continual  fighting  they  had  to 
undergo,  nor  would  they  have  persisted  in  the  siege  but 
for  two  things,  the  presence  of  the  Venetians,  which 
stimulated  their  ardour,  and  the  joyful  news  that  the 
formidable  Balak  was  dead.  He  was  killed  by  Jocelyn 
himself,  who  ran  him  through  with  his  sword  and  then 
cut  off  his  head  without  knowing  who  was  his  adversary. 
Thus  Balak's  dream,  says  the  Christian  historian,  was 
in  a  manner  fulfilled,  though  the  Arabs,  not  having  a 
dream  to  accomplish,  tell  the  story  of  his  death  in 
another  way. 

The  people  of  Ascalon,  '  like  unquiet  wasps,  always 
occupied  with  the  desire  of  doing  mischief,'  seeing  that 
the  whole  army  was  away  at  Tyre,  and  hoping  to  catch 
Jerusalem  unguarded,  appeared  suddenly  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  city,  in  great  force.  After  ravaging  and 
pillaging  for  a  time,  they  were  seized  with  a  sudden 
panic,  and  all  fled  back  to  their  town,  without  any 
enemy  in  sight. 

The  siege  of  Tyre  was  concluded  on  the  29th  of 
June,  1 124,  on  the  conditions  which  had  now  become 
customary.  The  Tyrians  could  go  away  if  they  pleased. 
Those  who  chose  to  stay  could  do  so  without  fear.  And 
the  historian  tells  how,  when  the  treaty  of  surrender  was 
concluded,  Tyrians  and  Christians  visited  each  other's 
camp,  and  admired  the  siege  artillery  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  walls  and  strength  of  the  town  on  the  other. 
We  are  therefore  approaching  the  period  of  what  may 
be  called  friendly  warfare.  Godfrey  thought  an  infidel 
was  one  with  whom  no  dealings  were  to  be  held,  to 
whom  no  mercy  was  to  be  shown.  Baldwin,  taught  by 
i  his   Armenian  wife,  and  by  his  experience  in  Edessa, 


1 


272  JERUSALEM. 

went  so  far  as  to  shock  the  Christians  by  an  alliance 
with  the  Damascenes.  His  successor  could  not  prevent 
his  men,  even  if  he  tried,  from  friendly  intercourse  with 
the  enemy. 

The  changes  which  had  been  wrought  by  time  are 
graphically  put  forth  by  our  friend  Foulcher  de 
Chartres.  '  Consider,'  he  says,  '  how  the  West  has 
been  turned  into  the  East ;  how  he  who  was  of  the 
West  has  become  of  the  East ;  he  who  was  Roman  or 
Frank  has  become  here  a  Galilsean  or  an  inhabitant  of 
Palestine ;  he  who  was  a  citizen  of  Rheims  or  of 
Chartres  is  become  a  citizen  of  Tyre  or  of  Antioch. 
We  have  already  forgotten  the  places  of  our  birth  ; 
they  are  even  by  this  time  either  unknown  to  most 
of  us,  or  at  least  never  spoken  of.  Some  of  us  hold 
lands  and  houses  by  hereditary  right ;  one  has  married 
a  woman  who  is  not  of  his  own  country — a  Syrian,  an 
Armenian,  or  even  a  Saracen  who  has  abjured  her 
faith ;  another  has  with  him  his  son-in-law,  or  his 
father-in-law ;  this  one  is  surrounded  by  his  nephews 
and  his  grandchildren  ;  one  cultivates  vines,  another 
the  fields ;  they  all  talk  different  languages,  and  yet 
succeed  in  understanding  one  another.  .  .  .  The  stranger 
has  become  the  native,  the  pilgrim  the  resident ;  day 
by  day  our  relations  come  from  the  West  and  stay  with 
us.  Those  who  were  poor  at  home  God  has  made 
rich  here ;  those  who  at  home  had  nothing  but  a  farm, 
here  have  a  city.  Why  should  he  who  finds  the  East 
so  fortunate  return  again  to  the  West  ?'  The  plenty 
and  sunshine  of  Palestine,  where  every  Frank  was  a 
sort  of  aristocrat  by  right  of  colour,  no  doubt  gave 
charms  to  a  life  which  otherwise  was  one  of  constant 
fighting  and  struggle.  Palestine  was  to  France  in  this 
century  what  America  was  to  Spain  in  the  sixteenth, 


CHRISTIAN  OCCUPATION.  273 

— the  land  of  prosperity,  plenty,  and  danger.  How  the 
country  got  peopled  is  told  by  another  writer,  Jacques 
de  Vitry,  in  too  glowing  colours. 

'  The  Holy  Land  flourished  like  a  garden  of  delight. 
The  deserts  were  changed  into  fat  and  fertile  meadows, 
harvests  raised  their  heads  where  once  had  been  the 
dwelling-places  of  serpents  and  dragons.  Hither  the 
Lord,  who  had  once  abandoned  this  land,  gathered 
together  His  children.  Men  of  every  tribe  and  every 
nation  came  there  by  the  inspiration  of  heaven  and 
doubled  the  population.  They  came  in  crowds  from 
beyond  the  sea,  especially  from  Genoa,  Venice,  and  Pisa. 
But  the  greatest  force  of  the  realm  was  from  France 
and  Germany.  The  Italians  are  more  courageous  at 
sea,  the  French  and  Germans  on  land,  .  .  .  those  of 
Italy  are  sober  in  their  meals,  polished  in  their  dis- 
course, circumspect  in  their  resolutions,  prompt  to 
execute  them  ;  full  of  forethought,  submitting  with 
difficulty  to  others ;  defending  their  liberty  above  all  ; 
making  their  own  laws,  and  trusting  for  their  execution 
to  chiefs  whom  themselves  have  elected.  They  are 
very  necessary  for  the  Holy  Land,  not  only  for  fighting, 
but  for  the  transport  of  pilgrims  and  provisions.  As 
they  are  sober  they  live  longer  in  the  East  than  other 
nations  of  the  West.  The  Germans,  the  Franks,  the 
Bretons,  the  English,  and  others  beyond  the  Alps  are 
less  deceitful,  less  circumspect,  but  more  impetuous ; 
less  sober,  more  prodigal ;  less  discreet,  less  prudent, 
more  devout,  more  charitable,  more  courageous  ;  there- 
fore they  are  considered  more  useful  for  the  defence  of 
the  Holy  Land,  especially  the  Bretons,  and  more 
formidable  against  the  Saracens.' 

But  evil  came  of  prosperity.  As  for  the  bishops  and 
clergy,  they  took  all,  and  gave  nothing.     To  them,  we 

18 


274  JERUSALEM. 


are  told,  it  was  as  if  Christ's  command  had  not  been 
'  Feed  My  sheep/  but  '  Shear  My  sheep.'  The  regular 
orders,  infected  with  wealth,  lost  their  piety  with  their 
poverty,  their  discipline  with  their  adversity ;  they 
fought,  quarrelled,  and  gave  occasion  for  every  kind  of 
scandal.  As  for  the  laity,  they  were  as  bad.  A 
generation  dissolute,  corrupt,  and  careless  had  sprung 
from  the  first  Crusaders.*  Their  mothers  had  been 
Armenians,  Greeks,  or  Syrians.  They  succeeded  to 
the  possessions,  but  not  to  the  manners  of  their  fathers  ; 
all  the  world  knows,  says  the  historian,  how  they  were 
lapped  in  delights,  soft,  effeminate,  more  accustomed  to 
baths  than  to  fighting,  given  over  to  debauchery  and  im- 
purity, going  dressed  as  softly  as  women,  cowardly,  lazy, 
and  pusillanimous  before  the  enemies  of  Christ,  despised 
by  the  Saracens,  and  preferring  rather  to  have  peace  at 
any  price  than  to  defend  their  own  possessions.  No 
doubt  the  climate  of  Syria  rapidly  produced  a 
degeneracy  in  the  courage  and  strength  of  the  Latin 
race,  but  the  writer's  style  is  too  full  of  adjectives.  He 
screams  like  an  angry  woman  when  he  declaims  against 
the  age,  which  was  probably  no  worse  than  its  pre- 
decessors, and  the  heat  of  his  invective  deprives  it  of 
most  of  its  force. 

It  was  in  Baldwin's  reign  that  the  Knights  Templars 
were  founded,  and  the  Hospitallers  became  a  military 
order. 

From  very  early  times  an  order  known  as  that  of 
St.  Lazarus  had  existed,  dedicated  to  the  service  of 
lepers  and  of  pilgrims.  They  had  a  hospital  at  first  in 
Acre  ;  they  were  protected  by  the  late  emperors  ;  their 
brethren  accompanied  the  army  of  Heraclius  as  a  sort 
of  ambulance  corps  ;  they  obtained  permission  to  estab- 
*  They  were  called pullani,  see  p.  222. 


! 


KNIGHTS  HOSPITALLERS.  275 

lish  themselves  in  Bethlehem,  Jerusalem,  and  Nazareth, 
and  they  had  a  settlement  at  Cyprus.  After  the  first 
Crusade  they  divided  into  three  classes  :  the  knights,  or 
righting  brothers  ;  the  physicians,  or  medical  brothers  ; 
and  the  priests,  who  administered  the  last  rites  of  the 
Church  to  dying  men.  These  establishments  spread 
over  France,  Italy,  and  Germany ;  they  became  rich. 
The  knights  appear  to  have  disappeared  gradually  ; 
they  spent  their  money  in  sending  pilgrims  out  in  ships, 
and  in  paying  the  ransoms  of  those  who  were  taken 
prisoners. 

The  origin  of  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  originally 
only  the  Brothers  of  St.  John,  took  place  just  before 
the  first  Crusade.  The  order  was  founded  by  a  certain 
citizen  of  Amain,  Gerard  by  name.  There  are  many 
stories  about  his  life.  By  some  he  is  confounded  with 
that  Gerard  d'Avesnes  who,  a  hostage  in  the  hand  of 
the  Emir  of  Arsuf,  was  bound  by  him  to  a  piece 
of  timber  in  the  place  against  which  the  machines  were 
chiefly  directed,  in  hopes  that  the  sight  might  induce 
Godfrey  to  desist.  But  Godfrey  persisted,  and  Gerard, 
though  pierced  with  arrows,  eventually  recovered. 
Probably,  however,  this  was  another  Gerard.  The 
order  began  with  a  monastery  near  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre,  and  in  n  13  received  a  charter  from  the 
Pope.  Their  immediate  object,  like  that  of  the  Brothers 
of  St.  Lazarus,  was  to  help  the  wounded;  their  bread 
and  meat  were  of  the  coarsest ;  they  did  not  disdain 
the  most  menial  offices  ;  and  in  spite  of  their  voluntary 
hardships,  and  the  repulsive  duties  of  their  office,  they 
rapidly  grew  and  became  wealthy.  Raymond  Dupuy, 
grand  master  in  1118,  modified  the  existing  statutes  of 
this  order,  and  made  every  brother  take  the  oath  to 
fight,  in  addition  to  his  other  duties.     Henceforth  it 

i8— 2 


276  JERUSALEM. 

was  a  military  order,  divided  into  languages,  having 
commanderies  for  every  language,  and  lands  in  every 
country.  Its  habit  consisted  of  a  black  robe,  with  a 
mantle  to  which  was  sewn  a  hood  ;  on  the  left  shoulder 
was  an  eight-pointed  cross ;  and  later,  for  the  knights, 
a  coat-of-arms  was  added.  And  this  habit  was  so 
honourable  that  he  who  fled  was  judged  unworthy  to 
wear  it.  Those  who  entered  the  order  out  of  Palestine 
might  wear  the  cross  without  the  mantle.  Riches  pre- 
sently corrupted  the  early  discipline,  and  pope  after 
pope  addressed  them  on  the  subject  of  the  laxity  of 
their  morals.  Their  history,  however,  does  not  belong 
to  us.  How  they  fought  at  Rhodes,  and  how  they  held 
Malta,  belong  to  another  history.  It  is  the  only  one  of 
the  military  orders  not  yet  extinct. 

It  was  in  the  year  1118  that  the  proud  and  aristo- 
cratic order  of  Knights  Templars  was  first  instituted. 
Nine  knights,  nobly  born,  consecrated  themselves,  by 
a  solemn  vow,  to  protect  pilgrims  on  the  roads,  and  to 
labour  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  Church.  Their 
leaders  were  Hugh  de  Payens  and  Geoffrey  de  St. 
Aldemar.  They  had  no  church  or  place  of  residence, 
and  the  king  assigned  to  them  the  building  south  of 
the  Dome  of  the  Rock,  now  called  the  Jami'  el  Aksa. 
It  was  then  called  the  Palace  of  Solomon,  or  the  Royal 
Palace,  and  William  of  Tyre  is  careful  to  distinguish 
between  it  and  the  Dome  of  the  Rock,  which  he  calls 
the  Temple  of  the  Lord.  The  canons  of  the  Temple 
also  allowed  the  knights  to  make  use  of  their  own 
ground — that  is,  of  the  Haram  Area.  For  nine  years 
they  wore  no  distinctive  habit,  and  had  no  worldly 
possessions.  But  at  the  Council  of  Troyes,  where  they 
were  represented  by  deputies,  their  cause  was  taken  up 
by  the  Church,  and  they  obtained  permission  to  wear; 


KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS.  277 

a  white  mantle  with  a  red  cross.  Then,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  they  became  the  most  popular  of  all  the 
orders,  and  the  richest.  Their  wealth  quickly  intro- 
duced pride  and  luxury,  and  William  of  Tyre  complains 
that  even  in  his  time,  writing  only  some  fifty  years 
after  their  foundation,  there  were  three  hundred 
knights,  without  serving  brothers,  '  whose  number  was 
infinite  ;'  that,  though  they  had  kept  the  rules  of  their 
first  profession,  they  had  forgotten  the  duty  of  humility, 
had  withdrawn  themselves  from  the  authority  of  the 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  were  already  rendering 
themselves  extremely  obnoxious  to  the  Church  by  de- 
priving it  of  its  tithes  and  first-fruits.  Here  we  see  the 
first  appearance  of  that  hostility  to  the  Church  which 
afterwards  caused  the  fall  of  the  Templars.  The  recep- 
tion of  a  new  knight  was  a  kind  of  initiation.  The 
chapter  assembled  by  night  with  closed  doors,  the  can- 
didate waiting  without.  Two  brothers  were  sent  out, 
three  times  in  succession,  to  ask  him  if  he  wished  to 
enter  the  brotherhood.  The  candidate  replied  to  each 
interrogatory,  and  then,  to  signify  the  poverty  of  his 
condition  and  the  modest  nature  of  his  wants,  he  was 
to  ask  three  times  for  bread  and  water.  After  this  he 
was  introduced  in  due  form,  and,  after  the  customary 
ceremonies  and  questions,  was  made  to  take  the  oath 
of  poverty,  chastity,  obedience,  and  devotion  to  the 
defence  of  Palestine.  The  following  is  given  as  the 
formula,  or  part  of  it :  'I  swear  to  consecrate  my 
speech,  my  strength,  and  my  life  to  defend  the  belief  in 
the  unity  of  God  and  the  mysteries  of  the  faith  ;  I  pro- 
mise to  be  submissive  and  obedient  to  the  grand  master 
of  the  order.  When  the  Saracens  invade  the  lands  of 
the  Christians,  I  will  pass  over  the  seas  to  deliver  my 
brethren  ;    I  will  give  the  succour  of  my  arm  to  the 


278  JERUSALEM. 


Church  and  the  kings  against  the  infidel  princes.  So 
long  as  my  enemies  shall  be  only  three  to  one  against 
me  I  will  fight  them,  and  will  never  take  flight ;  alone 
I  will  combat  them  if  they  are  unbelievers.' 

Everything  was  done  by  threes,  because  three  sig- 
nifies the  mystery  of  the  Trinity.  Three  times  a  year 
the  knights  were  enumerated  ;  three  times  a  week  they 
heard  mass  and  could  eat  meat ;  three  times  a  week 
they  gave  alms  ;  while  those  who  failed  in  their  duty 
were  scourged  three  times  in  open  chapter. 

In  later  times  the  simple  ceremony  of  admission 
became  complicated  by  symbolical  rites  and  cere- 
monies. The  candidate  was  stripped  of  all  his  clothes ; 
poor,  naked,  and  helpless,  he  was  to  stand  without  the 
door  and  seek  admission.  This  was  not  all.  He  yet 
had  his  religion.  He  was  required  to  spit  upon  the 
cross  and  deny  his  Saviour.  And  then,  with  nothing 
to  help  him,  nothing  to  fall  back  upon,  he  was  to  be 
rebaptized  in  the  chapter  of  the  order  :  to  owe  every- 
thing to  the  Templars,  to  belong  to  them  by  the  sacred 
kiss  of  brotherhood,  by  the  oaths  of  secrecy,  by  the 
memory  of  his  readmission  into  Christianity,  by  the 
glorious  traditions  of  the  order,  and  lastly,  as  is  mere 
than  probable,  by  that  mysterious  teaching  which  put 
the  order  above  the  Church,  and  gave  an  inner  and  a 
deeper  meaning  to  doctrines  which  the  vulgar  accepted 
in  their  literal  sense.  It  is  impossible  now  to  say 
whether  the  Templars  were  Gnostic  or  not ;  probably 
they  may  have  imbibed  in  the  East  not  only  that  con- 
tempt for  the  vulgar  Christianity  which  undoubtedly 
belonged  to  them,  but  also  whatever  there  was  left  of 
Gnosticism  floating  about  in  the  minds  and  memories 
of  men.  In  that  strange  time  of  doubt  and  restlessness 
the  revolt  against  Rome  took  many  forms.     There  was 


KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS.  279 

the  religion  of  the  Troubadour,  half  a  mocking  denial, 
half  a  jesting  question;  there  was  the  angry  protest  of 
the  Provencal,  that  every  man  is  a  priest  unto  himself; 
there  was  the  strange  and  mysterious  teaching  of  the 
Abbot  Joachim  ;  and  there  was,  besides,  the  secret 
creed,  which  owned  no  bishop  and  would  obey  no 
pope,  of  these  Knights  Templars. 

But  this  was  to  come ;  we  are  still  in  the  time  when 
St.  Bernard  can  write  of  them,  '  O  happy  state  of  life, 
wherein  one  may  wait  for  death  without  fear,  even 
wish  for  it,  and  receive  it  with  firmness  !'  This  was 
when  their  banner  Beauseant  was  borne  in  the  front 
of  every  battle,  with  its  humble  legend,  '  Not  unto 
us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  name  give  the 
glory.' 

In  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Hospitallers  had  nine 

thousand  manors,  and  the  Templars  nineteen  thousand. 

Each  of  these  could  maintain  a  knight  in  Palestine. 

And  yet  they  did  nothing  for  the  deliverance  of  the 

country. 

Li  freres,  li  mestre  du  Temple, 
Qu'estoient  rempli  et  ample 
D'or,  et  d'argent,  et  de  richesse, 
Et  qui  menoient  toute  noblesse, 
Ou  sont  ils  ? 

After  the  reconquest  of  Palestine,  and  until  their 
final  and  cruel  suppression,  they  seem  to  have  given  up 
all  thoughts  of  their  first  vows,  and  to  have  become 
an  aristocratic  order,  admission  into  which  was  a 
privilege,  which  involved  no  duties,  demanded  no 
sacrifices,  and  conferred  great  power  and  distinction. 
To  be  a  Templar  was  for  a  younger  son  of  a  noble 
house  to  become  a  sort  of  fellow  of  a  college,  only  a 
college  far  more  magnificent  and  splendid  than  any- 
thing which  remains  to  us. 


28o  JERUSALEM. 


The  Teutonic  order  was  founded  later,  during  the 
Crusade  of  Frederick  Barbarossa.  It  was  at  first  called 
the  Order  of  St.  George,  After  a  stay  of  some  time 
at  Jerusalem,  the  knights,  who  were  always  Germans, 
went  to  Acre.  And  thence,  receiving  the  provinces  of 
Livonia,  Culm,  and  all  they  could  get  of  Prussia,  they 
removed  to  Europe,  where  they  founded  Konigsberg 
in  honour  of  Louis  IX.  of  France,  and  did  good  ser- 
vice against  the  pagans  of  Prussia.  The  order  did 
not  remain  a  Roman  Catholic  one,  as  was  decided 
after  the  Reformation,  and  to  gain  admission  into 
it  it  was  necessary  to  prove  sixteen  quarterings  of 
nobility. 

History,  about  this  time,  occupied  chiefly  in  relating 
how  the  Turks  on  the  north,  and  the  Egyptians  on  the 
south,  made  incursion  after  incursion,  to  be  beaten 
back,  each  time  with  more  difficulty,  becomes  some- 
what monotonous.  King  Baldwin  II.,  when  the  enemy 
found  that  his  capture  did  not  affect  the  success  of  the 
Christian  arms,  and  agreed  to  accept  a  ransom  for  him, 
directly  he  got  out  of  prison  assembled  his  army  and 
laid  siege  to  Aleppo.  Here  he  was  assisted  by  the 
Mohammedans  themselves,  but,  in  spite  of  his  auxilia- 
ries, was  compelled  to  raise  the  siege,  and  returned 
to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  welcomed  by  his  people. 
If  he  was  unfortunate  in  attack,  he  was  at  least  for- 
tunate in  repelling  invasion,  and  beat  back  the  Turks 
near  Antioch,  and  again  near  Damascus.  The  Turks 
were  only  formidable  when  they  were  united  ;  when,  as 
often  happened,  their  forces  were  divided  by  internal 
dissensions  among  the  emirs  and  princes,  the  Christians 
were  at  rest,  and  when  these  discords  were  appeased 
an  invasion  followed.  With  the  Egyptians  the  inva- 
sion was  annual,  but  every  year  growing  weaker.    Still, 


ALICE  OF  ANTIOCH.  281 

though  always  beaten  back,  the  Mohammedan  troops 
came  again  and  again,  and  the  crown  of  Jerusalem  was 
ever  a  crown  of  thorns.  Among  those  who  came  at 
this  time  to  Palestine  was  young  Bohemond,  son  of 
that  turbulent  Norman  who  gave  Alexis  so  much 
trouble.  Baldwin  gladly  resigned  into  his  hands  the  prin- 
cipality of  Antioch,  which  after  the  death  of  Count  Roger 
had  been  under  his  own  care.  Bohemond  was  young, 
brave,  and  handsome.  Great  things  were  expected  of 
him.  Baldwin  gave  him  his  daughter  Alice  to  wife, 
and  for  a  little  while  all  went  well,  through  the  young 
prince's  activity  and  prudence.  But  he  was  killed  in 
Cilicia,  leaving  no  heir  but  an  infant  girl.  After  this 
a  very  curious  story  is  told. 

The  princess  Alice,  widow  of  young  Bohemond,  re- 
solved, if  possible,  to  keep  for  herself,  by  any  means, 
the  possessions  of  her  late  husband.  In  order  to  effect 
this,  as  she  knew  very  well  that  her  daughter  would 
become  the  king's  ward  and  heiress  of  all,  she  resolved 
to  try  for  the  help  of  the  Christians'  greatest  enemy, 
Zanghi.  She  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Turk,  to  open 
negotiations  with  him.  As  a  symbol  of  her  good  faith, 
the  messenger  was  provided  with  a  white  palfrey,  shod 
with  silver,  with  silver  bit,  and  harness  mounted  all  in 
silver,  and  covered  with  a  white  cloth.  On  the  way 
the  messenger  was  arrested  and  brought  to  the  king, 
who  was  travelling  in  haste  to  Antioch.  He  confessed 
his  errand  and  was  executed.  But  Alice  closed  the 
gates  of  the  city,  afraid  to  meet  her  father.  These 
were  opened  by  some  of  the  inhabitants,  who  did  not 
choose  to  participate  in  this  open  treason  to  the  Chris- 
tian cause,  and  Alice  retreated  to  the  citadel.  Finally 
the  king  was  prevailed  on  to  pardon  her,  and  she  re- 
ceived the  towns,  which  had  been  already  settled  on  her 


282  JERUSALEM. 


by  the  marriage  deeds,  of  Laodicea  and  Gebail.  But 
she  was  going  to  cause  more  trouble  yet. 

Another  son-in-law  of  the  king  was  Fulke,  who  suc- 
ceeded him.  He  came  to  Palestine  as  a  pilgrim,  be- 
wailing the  death  of  his  wife  Ermentrade.  Here  he 
maintained  in  his  pay  a  hundred  men-at-arms  for  a 
whole  year,  in  the  king's  service.  Baldwin,  who  had 
no  sons,  offered  him  his  daughter  Milicent,  and  the 
succession  to  the  crown.  Fulke,  then  thirty-eight  years 
of  age,  gratefully  accepted  the  offer,  and  consoled  him- 
self for  his  bereavement. 

Baldwin  II.  died  in  the  year  1131.  He  had 
ruled  Edessa  for  eighteen  years,  and  Jerusalem  for 
twelve,  during  which  time  he  had  spent  seven  years  in 
captivity.  He  was  lamented  by  his  subjects,  though 
his  reign  had  not  been  fortunate  or  successful.  Still, 
by  dint  of  sheer  courage,  the  boundaries  of  the 
realm  had  not  been  contracted.  What  was  really 
the  fatal  thing  about  his  reign  was  that  the  Moham- 
medans knew  now  by  repeated  trials  that  the  Christians 
were  not  invincible.  It  was  a  knowledge  which  every 
year  deepened,  and  every  petty  victory  strengthened. 
The  prestige  of  their  arms  once  gone,  the  power  of  the 
Christians  was  sure  to  follow. 

Religious  as  Baldwin  was,  his  piety  did  not  prevent 
him  from  asserting  the  rights  of  the  crown  over  those 
claimed  by  every  successive  patriarch,  and  many 
quarrels  happened  between  him  and  the  prelates,  who 
tried  perpetually  to  extend  their  temporal  power. 
During  one  of  these,  the  patriarch  fell  ill.  Baldwin  went 
to  see  him.  '  I  am,'  said  the  revengeful  priest,  '  as  you 
would  wish  to  see  me,  Sir  King,'  implying  that  Bald- 
win wished  his  death,  even  if  he  had  not  compassed  it. 
William  of  Tyre,  a  priest  to  the  backbone,  relates  this 


i 


THE  CLERGY.  283 


incident  without  a  word  of  comment.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  position  of  the  Latin  clergy  in 
Palestine  was  not  by  any  means  so  good  as  that  which 
they  enjoyed  in  Europe.  Their  lands  were  not  so  large 
in  proportion,  and  their  dignity  and  authority  less.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  were  neither  so  nobly  born,  nor 
so  well  bred,  nor  so  learned  as  their  clerical  brethren  of 
the  West.  Thus  it  is  reported  that  a  Flemish  pilgrim 
was  once  raised  to  the  patriarchal  seat,  simply  because, 
at  the  imposture  of  the  Holy  Fire,  his  taper  was  the 
first  to  light,  and  it  will  be  remembered  how,  after  the 
deposition  of  Dagobert,  Ebremer,  a  simple  and  per- 
fectly ignorant  monk,  was  put  into  his  place.  And 
when  the  pope  refused  to  confirm  the  appointment,  they 
made  him  archbishop  of  another  diocese  by  way  of 
compensation. 

We  have  seen,  so  far,  the  growth  of  this  little  king- 
dom, created  in  a  single  campaign,  sustained  by  the 
valour  of  kings  whose  crown  was  an  iron  helmet,  whose 
throne  was  a  camp-stool  in  a  tent,  or  the  saddle  of  a 
horse,  whose  hands  grasped  no  sceptre  but  a  sword, 
who  lived  hardly,  and  died  in  harness.  We  have  next 
to  see  its  decline  and  fall. 

Legends  of  Baldwin's  prowess  grew  up  as  the  years 

ran  on.     As  a  specimen  of  the  stories  which  gathered 

about  his  name  we  subjoin  the  following  translation, 

almost  literal,  from  a  French  romance  of  the  fourteenth 

century.     It  treats  of  a  visit  made  by  Baldwin  with  two 

Mohammedan  princes,  secretly  Christian,  to  the  Old 

Man  of  the  Mountains  : 

'  Now,'  said  the  Prince  *  'great  marvels  have  I  here  :' 
And  summoning  from  those  who  waited  near 
One  of  his  own  Assassins,  bade  him  go 
Up  to  the  highest  tower,  and  leap  below. 


Le  Vieux  de  la  Montagne. 


284  JERUSALEM. 


Strange  was  it  when  the  obedient  soldier  ran 

Joyous,  and  quick,  and  smiling,  as  a  man 

Who  looks  for  great  reward,  and  through  the  air 

Leaped  fearless  down.     And  far  below  him  there 

King  Baldwin  noted  how  his  lifeless  bones, 

Mangled  and  shattered,  lay  about  the  stones. 

When  leapt  the  first  man  marvelled  much  the  king, 

More  when  five  others,  as  'twere  some  light  thing, 

At  his  command  leaped  down  from  that  tall  height. 

'  Sir,'  said  the  Prince,  '  no  man,  of  all  my  might, 

But  blindly  hastens  where  I  point  the  way, 

Nor  is  there  one  so  mad  to  disobey.' 

4  Now  by  Mahound,'  the  Caliph  cried,  'not  I  : 

Far  be  it  from  me  your  power  to  deny. 

For,  as  it  seems,  the  greatest  man  on  earth, 

A  very  god,  a  greater  far  in  worth 

Than  Mahomet  himself  art  thou  ;  for  none 

Can  do,  or  shall  do,  what  thyself  hast  done.' 

'Thou  speakest  truth,'  the  Prince  replied,  'and  lo  ! 

As  yet  thou  knowest  not  all,  for  I  can  show 

The  fairest  place  that  ever  yet  was  found.' 

And  so  he  led,  by  many  a  mazy  round 

And  secret  passage,  to  an  orchard  fair, 

Planted  with  herbs  and  fruit  trees  :  hidden  there, 

Deep  in  a  corner,  was  a  golden  gate. 

This  to  the  Prince  flew  open  wide,  and  straight 

Great  brightness  shone  upon  them,  and  behind 

Upwards  long  flights  of  silver  stairs  did  wind. 

Two  hundred  steps  they  mounted  :  then,  behold, 

There  lay  the  garden  as  the  Prince  had  told. 

Ah  !  what  a  garden  !  all  sweet  hues  that  be, 

Azure,  and  gold,  and  red,  were  here  to  see  : 

All  flowers  that  God  has  made  were  blooming  here, 

While  sparkled  three  fresh  fountains  bright  and  clear  - 

With  claret  one  ;  with  mead  all  honey-sweet 

The  second  ran  ;  while  at  their  thirsty  feet 

The  third  poured  white  wine.     On  a  dais  high 

Was  set  a  golden  table,  and  thereby 

Sat  Ivorine,  the  fairest  maid  of  earth. 

Round  her,  each  one  a  jewel  of  great  worth, 

Two  hundred  damsels  waited  on  her  word, 

Or  sang  as  never  Baldwin  yet  had  heard 

The  maids  of  Europe  sing  :   and  here  and  there 

Minstrels  with  golden  harps  made  music  fair  ; 

Ever  they  danced  and  sang  :  such  joy  had  they, 

So  light  seemed  every  heart,  each  maid  so  gay  ; 

So  sweet  the  songs  they  sang,  so  bright  their  eyes, 

That  this  fair  garden  seemed  like  Paradise. 

But  Lady  Ivorine  smiled  not,  and  sat 

Downcast  and  sad,  though  still  content  to  wait 


ROMANS  DE  BAUDUIN.  285 

Her  knight — the  flower  of  knighthood — who  some  day 

Would  surely  come  and  bear  her  far  away. 

Baldwin  bethought  him  of  the  maiden  fair, 

Whose  fame  had  gone  abroad,  and  everywhere 

Looked,  till  his  eyes  fell  upon  one  who  seemed 

Fairer  than  mind  had  pictured,  brain  had  dreamed. 

She  sat  upon  a  golden  seat,  alone, 

In  priceless  robes  ;  upon  her  head  a  crown, 

Well  worth  a  county  :  there,  row  over  row, 

Full  many  a  sapphire  shone  with  richest  glow, 

And  many  a  pearl  and  many  a  gem  beside 

Glittered  therein  the  gold  beneath  to  hide. 

Her  robe  was  broidered  :  three  long  years  and  more 

Toiled  on  it  he  who  wrought  it  ;  and  thrown  o'er 

A  costly  mantle  lay  :  from  far  'twas  brought 

In  some  sweet  isle  beyond  the  ocean  wrought. 

Full  seven  years  a  Moslem  lady  bent 

Above  her  loom,  and  still  her  labour  spent, 

While  slowly  grew  the  robe  ;  for  buckle  light, 

A  rich  carbuncle  glowed,  which  day  and  night 

Shone  like  the  sun  of  heaven  clear  and  bright. 

And  when  Lord  Baldwin  saw  this  damsel  fair, 
So  mazed  he  was,  he  nearly  fainted  there. 
'  Baldwin/  said  Poliban,  'look  not  so  pale, 
If  'tis  for  doubt  or  fear  your  spirits  fail.' 
'Nay,'  said  Lord  Baldwin,  'but  a  sudden  pain, 
Yet  see  I  what  would  make  me  well  again.' 
Then  the  Prince  led  them  all,  these  nobles  three, 
And  to  his  daughter  brought  them  courteously. 
'  Fair  daughter,'  said  he,  '  is  there  none  of  these, 
Great  princes  all  and  brave,  that  can  you  please  ?' 
1  Yea,  sire,'  the  maid  replied,  '  I  see  my  lord, 
The  noblest  knight  is  he  who  wears  a  sword. 
These  ten  long  years  I  sit,  and  hope,  and  wait, 
For  him,  my  husband,  promised  by  my  fate. 
Now  leaps  my  heart  :  the  weary  time  is  past, 
My  knight,  my  liege,  my  lord,  is  come  at  last.' 
When  Baldwin  heard  these  words,  joy  and  surprise 
Held  all  his  heart ;  but  then,  across  his  eyes, 
Fell  on  him  a  sudden  cloud  of  doubt,  and  fear 
Ran  through  his  chilled  brain  lest  those  praises  dear 
For  a  companion,  not  himself,  were  told. 
And,  for  he  could  not  silence  longer  hold, 
For  all  the  gold  of  Europe  :  '  Can  it  be,5 
He  asked  the  maid,  '  that  you  have  chosen  me  ?' 
She  smiled  upon  him.     '  Baldwin,  be  my  knight.' 
'  By  heaven,'  he  cried,  '  mine  is  this  jewel  so  bright.' 
But  then  the  Prince,  her  sire — who  liked  not  well, 
That  on  the  poorest  lord  her  favour  fell — 


286  JERUSALEM. 


Angry  and  wroth,  cried,  '  Foolish  daughter,  know, 

Your  idle  words  like  running  water  flow, 

And  matter  nothing,  until  I  have  willed.' 

'  Father,'  cried  Ivorine,  '  I  am  your  child  ; 

And  yet,  alas  !  through  my  words  must  you  die. 

Yea  ;  for  know  well  that  God  who  dwells  on  high 

Hates  those  who  own  Him  not  :  and  so  hates  you. 

That  lying  demon  whom  you  hold  for  true, 

And  so  teach  others,  has  deceived  your  heart. 

But  as  for  me,  ah  !  let  me  take  my  part 

With  those  who  trust  in  Christ,  and  place  my  faith 

In  that  sweet  pardon  won  us  by  His  death. 

Father,  renounce  thy  superstitions  vain  ; 

And  leave  this  place,  or  die,  if  you  remain.' 

1  Fool  !'  cried  the  Prince,  '  I  curse  thee  from  this  day.' 

Then  to  the  Caliph  :  ■  Slay  my  daughter,  slay. 

Strike  quickly,  lest  some  evil  chance  to  you. 

My  daughter  kill.' 

His  sword  the  Caliph  drew, 
And  struck — but  not  fair  Ivorine.     The  blade 
Smote  down  the  wrathful  Prince,  and  spared  the  maid. 
'  Right  well,'  cried  Poliban,  '  hast  thou  obeyed.' 


CHAPTER  X. 

KING    FULKE.      A.D.    II3I — H44. 

'  I  have  touched  the  highest  point  of  all  my  greatness, 
And  from  that  full  meridian  of  my  glory, 
I  haste  now  to  my  setting.' 

King  Lear. 

Fulke,  Count  of  Anjou,  born  about  the  year  1092, 
was  thirty-nine  years  of  age  at  the  time  when  his  father- 
in-law  died,  and  he  became,  with  his  wife  Milicent,  the 
successor  to  the  throne.  He  was  a  man  of  affable  and 
generous  disposition,  patient  and  prudent  rather  than 
impetuous,  and  of  great  experience  and  judgment  in 
military  operations.  He  was  of  small  stature — all  the 
previous  kings  had  been  tall  men — and  had  red  hair ; 
'in  spite  of  which,'  says  William  of  Tyre,  who  re- 
garded red-haired  men  with  suspicion,  '  the  Lord  found 
him,  like  David,  after  His  own  heart.'  The  principal 
defect  in  him  was  that  he  had  no  memory.  He  forgot 
faces,  persons,  and  promises.  He  would  entertain  a 
man  one  day  in  the  most  friendly  spirit  possible, 
making  all  kinds  of  offers  of  assistance,  and  giving  him 
to  understand  that  he  was  entirely  devoted  to  his 
interests.  The  next  day  he  would  meet  him  and  ask 
people  who  he  was,  having  meanwhile  quite  forgotten 
all  about  him.  This  was  sometimes  extremely  em- 
barrassing, and  *  many  men  who  reckoned  on  their 
familiar   relations  with  the   king   fell  into    confusion, 


JERUSALEM. 


reflecting  that  they  themselves,  who  wanted  to  show  as 
protectors  and  patrons  to  other  people,  required  a 
patron  with  the  king.' 

The  domestic  relations  of  Fulke  were  somewhat 
complicated,  but  they  bear  a  certain  special  interest  for 
English  readers.*  His  father,  Fulke,  the  Count  of 
Touraine  and  Anjou,  was  married  three  times,  and  had 
one  child  from  each  marriage.  His  third  wife,  Ber- 
trade,  the  mother  of  King  Fulke,  ran  away  from  him, 
and  became  the  mistress  of  King  Philip  of  France,  by 
whom  she  had  three  children.  One  of  them  was  that 
Caecilia  who  married  Tancred,  and,  after  his  death, 
Count  Pons.  Fulke,  by  means  of  his  mother's  in- 
fluence, making  a  wealthy  marriage,  was  the  father  of 
that  Geoffrey  Plantagenet  who  married  Matilda  of 
England,  and  produced  the  Plantagenet  line.  His 
daughter  Matilda  was  also  betrothed  to  William,  the 
son  of  Henry  I.,  and,  on  the  drowning  of  that  prince, 
she  went  into  a  convent,  where  she  remained.  Another 
daughter,  Sybille,  married  Thierry,  Count  of  Flanders. 
By  his  second  wife,  Milicent,  Fulke  had  two  sons, 
Baldwin  and  Amaury,  both  of  whom  became,  in  turn, 
Kings  of  Jerusalem. 

In  the  first  year  of  King  Fulke's  reign  died  that  stout 
old  warrior,  Jocelyn  of  Edessa.  His  end  was  worthy 
of  his  life.  In  the  preceding  year  he  had  been  besieg- 
ing a  fort  or  castle  near  Aleppo,  and  had  ordered  a  cer- 
tain town  to  be  undermined.  While  he  was  personally 
superintending  the  works,  the  tower  suddenly  fell  and 
buried  the  old  count  beneath  its  ruins.  They  extri- 
cated him,  but  his  legs  and  limbs  were  broken,  and  he 
never  walked  again.  He  retained,  however,  his  power 
of  speech  and  his  lofty  courage,  and  when,  next  year, 
*  See  Genealogical  Table,  p.  233. 


DEA  TH  OF  JOCEL  YN.  289 

the  news  came  that  the  Sultan  of  Iconium  was  besieg- 
ing in  force  one  of  his  strong  places,  he  sent  for  his  son 
and  ordered  him  to  collect  all  the  men  and  knights  he 
could,  and  march  at  once  to  the  rescue.  But  young 
Jocelyn,  who  was,  like  most  of  the  Syrian-born  Chris- 
tians, little  better  than  a  cur,  refused  flatly,  alleging  as 
an  excuse  the  disproportion  of  numbers.  The  old  man, 
sorrowful  at  heart  on  account  of  his  son's  cowardice, 
and  foreboding  the  troubles  which  would  surely  come 
after  his  own  death,  ordered  his  litter  to  be  prepared, 
and  was  carried  at  the  head  of  his  own  army  to  the 
relief  of  the  fort.  The  news  reached  the  Saracens 
that  old  Jocelyn  was  coming  himself,  and  at  the  very 
mention  of  his  name  they  broke  up  their  camp  and  fled. 
1  And  when  he  heard  this,  the  count  ordered  those  who 
carried  his  litter  to  place  it  on  the  ground  ;  then  raising 
his  hands  to  heaven,  with  tears  and  sighs,  he  returned 
thanks  to  God,  who  had  visited  him  in  his  affliction, 
and  had  thus  favoured  him  by  suffering  him  once  more, 
and  for  the  last  time,  to  be  formidable  to  the  enemies 
of  Christ.  And  while  he  poured  out  his  thanks  to 
heaven,  he  breathed  his  last.'  There  was  now  no  one 
left  of  the  old  crusading  chiefs,  and  their  spirit  was  dead. 

Most  of  them  had  married  Armenians,  and  their  sons 
were  degenerate,  sensual,  and  cowardly.  Young  Jocelyn, 
for  instance,  though  married  to  the  most  beautiful  and 
the  best  woman  in  the  East,  the  Lady  Beatrice,  was  so 
given  over  to  all  kinds  of  licentious  excesses  and  luxuries 
that  he  was,  says  the  historian,  covered  with  infamy. 
His  daughter  married  Fulke's  son  Amaury,  and  the 
evil  life  of  Jocelyn  bore  its  fruits  in  the  leprosy  of  his 
grandson,  King  Baldwin  IV. 

Directly  the  Countess  Alice  of  Antioch  heard  of  her 
father's  death,  she  began  to  plot  and  intrigue  to  break 

^9 


29o  JERUSALEM. 


through  the  settlement  made  in  her  daughter's  favour, 
and  to  get  the  town  and  principality  for  herself.  By 
means  of  gifts  and  promises,  she  drew  over  to  her  own 
interests  young  Jocelyn  of  Edessa,  and  Pons,  Count  of 
Tripoli,  and  the  people  of  Antioch,  alarmed  for  their 
future,  sent  hastily  to  the  king  for  assistance.  Fulke 
went  first  to  Beyrout,  whence  he  intended  to  proceed 
through  the  territories  of  the  Count  of  Tripoli  to 
Antioch.  But  Pons,  though  his  wife  was  the  king's 
own  sister,  positively  refused  to  allow  him  to  pass.  The 
king  went  by  sea.  Then  Pons  followed  him  with  a 
small  army.  Fulke,  getting  together  some  troops  at 
Antioch,  went  out  to  meet  him,  and  an  engagement 
took  place,  in  which  Pons  was  defeated,  and  most  of 
his  knights  taken  prisoners.  After  this  the  Count  of 
Tripoli  made  his  submission,  and  was  reconciled  to  the 
king,  who  confided  the  government  of  Antioch  to 
Renaud  de  Margat,  and  returned  to  his  capital.  But 
there  was  no  repose  for  a  King  of  Jerusalem,  and  the 
news  came  that  Zanghi,  with  a  large  army,  had  passed 
the  Euphrates,  and  was  invading  the  territory  of 
Antioch.  Once  more  the  order  for  preparation  was 
given,  and  the  king  marched  north.  When  he  arrived 
at  Sidon,  he  was  met  by  his  sister  Caecilia,  who  told 
him  how  her  husband  was  besieged  in  Montferrand  by 
the  Saracens,  and  implored  the  king,  with  all  a  woman's 
tears  and  entreaties,  to  go  first  to  his  assistance. 
Zanghi  thought  best  to  retire,  and  raising  his  camp,  got 
back  across  the  Euphrates  with  all  his  plunder.  But 
he  only  retired,  '  pour  mieux  sauter,'  and  came  back  in 
overwhelming  force.  And  then  followed  one  more, 
almost  the  last,  of  those  splendid  victories  which  seem 
to  have  been  won,  unless  the  histories  lie,  against  such 
fearful  odds,  and  entirely  through  the  personal  valour 


I 


ALICE  OF  ANTIOCH.  291 

of  each  individual  Christian.  The  reputation  of  Fulke 
rose  high  by  this  victory,  and  he  had  time  to  regulate 
some  of  his  domestic  matters.  First  it  became 
necessary  to  get  a  husband  for  little  Constance  of 
Antioch,  in  order  to  save  himself  the  care  of  per- 
petually interfering  in  the  troubles  caused  by  Alice.  He 
could  think  of  no  one  so  suitable  as  Raymond  of 
Poitiers.  But  there  were  difficulties  in  the  way.  Ray- 
mond was  in  England  at  the  court  of  Henry  I.  If 
deputies  were  sent  publicly,  inviting  him  to  Antioch, 
Alice  would  certainly  use  all  her  influence  with  the 
Norman  princes  of  Sicily,  her  late  husband's  cousins,  to 
stop  him  on  the  way.  A  double  deceit  was  therefore 
practised.  Alice  was  privately  informed  that  Raymond 
was  sent  for  to  marry  her,  not  her  daughter.  Raymond 
was  written  to  by  a  special  messenger,  a  Knight 
Hospitaller,  named  Gerard,  and  ordered  to  travel  to  the 
East  in  disguise  as  a  simple  pilgrim.  These  precau- 
tions proved  successful.  Alice,  rejoiced  at  the  prospect 
of  another  gallant  husband,  ceased  her  intrigues.  Ray- 
mond arrived  safely  in  Antioch,  where  Alice  and  the 
patriarch  were  both  waiting  for  him.  And  then  he 
was  married  without  the  least  delay  to  Constance,  a 
little  girl  of  eleven  or  twelve.  The  Countess  Alice,  who 
had  been  deceived  up  to  the  very  hour  of  the  wedding, 
went  away  to  Laodicea,  mad  with  rage  and  disappoint- 
ment, and  we  hear  no  more  of  her.  Fulke  had  check- 
mated her. 

His  next  trouble  was  on  account  of  her  sister,  his  own 
wife,  Milicent.  At  a  council  held  in  Jerusalem,  one 
Walter,  Count  of  Csesarea,  son-in-law  to  Hugh,  Count 
of  Jaffa,  rose  and  accused  his  father-in-law  of  the 
crime  of  lese-majeste.  The  accusation  was  prompted  by 
the  king  himself,  who  had,  or  thought  he   had,  good 

19 — 2 


2Q2  JERUSALEM. 


reason  to  be  jealous  of  his  wife's  relations  with  Count 
Hugh.  And  accordingly  he  hated  Hugh.  The  barons 
heard  the  charge,  and  summoned  Hugh  to  answer  it  in 
person,  and  to  defend  his  honour  en  champ  clos,  against 
his  accuser.  On  the  appointed  day  Walter  of  Csesarea 
appeared  in  arms,  but  Hugh  did  not  come.  Whether 
he  was  guilty,  or  whether  he  was  unwilling  to  risk  his 
honour  and  life  on  the  chance  of  a  single  fight,  is  un- 
certain. He  was  accordingly  judged  guilty  in  default, 
and  the  king  marched  against  him.  But  Count  Hugh 
was  not  so  easily  put  down.  He  hastened  to  Ascalon, 
and  made  an  alliance,  to  the  horror  of  all  good 
Christians,  with  those  hereditary  enemies  of  the 
faith,  the  inhabitants  of  that  town.  They  joyfully 
joined  him,  and  engaged  to  harass  the  country  while  he 
defended  Jaffa.  And  then  Hugh  drew  up  his  bridges, 
shut  his  gates,  and  sat  down  in  his  city,  announcing  his 
determination  to  hold  out  to  the  last.  There  was  no 
one  in  the  kingdom  with  so  great  a  reputation  as  he 
for  personal  bravery;  no  one  so  handsome,  no  one  so 
strong,  and  no  one  of  better  birth.  Moreover,  he  was 
the  cousin-german  to  the  queen,  which  gave  him  a 
reason,  or  at  least  a  pretext,  for  visiting  her  frequently 
and  privately. 

But  it  could  not  be  endured  that  civil  war  should 
rage  so  close  to  the  very  capital  of  the  realm,  and 
negotiations  were  entered  into  between  the  contending 
parties.  Finally  it  was  agreed  that  Hugh  should  put 
away  his  unnatural  alliance  with  the  Saracens,  and 
should  so  far  acknowledge  the  sentence  of  the  barons 
by  an  exile  of  three  years.  Hugh  repaired  to  Jerusalem 
with  the  king,  where  he  waited  till  the  preparations  for 
his  departure  should  be  completed.  One  day,  while  he 
was  playing  dice  outside  a  shop  in  the  street,  a  Breton 


DBA  TH  OF  HUGH.  293 

knight  stabbed  him  with  a  sword,  and  Hugh  fell 
apparently  dead.  He  was  not  dead,  however,  and  was 
ultimately  cured  of  his  wounds,  but  died  in  Sicily 
before  the  term  of  his  exile  was  completed.  Every- 
body thought  that  King  Fulke  had  ordered  the 
assassination,  but  the  murderer  stoutly  declared,  in  the 
midst  of  the  keenest  tortures,  that  he  had  no  accom- 
plices, and  that  he  had  acted  solely  in  what  he  thought 
obedience  to  the  will  of  Heaven.  Fulke  ordered  his 
limbs  to  be  broken  and  cut  off  one  after  the  other,  all 
but  his  tongue,  which  was  left  free  in  order  that  full 
confession  might  be  made.  Queen  Milicent's  resent- 
ment pursued  those  who  had  compassed  the  exile  of 
Ker  lover.  All  who  had  been  concerned  in  it  went  in 
terror  and  peril,  knowing,  '  furens  quid  foemina  possit  ;' 
and  even  the  king  found  it  prudent  to  make  peace 
with  his  wife,  and  henceforth,  even  if  he  should  be 
jealous,  to  conceal  that  passion  as  much  as  possible. 
But  the  count  died  in  Sicily,  and  the  queen's  resent- 
ment died  with  him. 

There  was  not,  however,  very  much  more  glory  await- 
ing the  much- troubled  Fulke.  Pons,  Count  of  Tripoli, 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Damascenes,  and  being 
recognised  by  certain  Syrians,  living  in  Lebanon,  was 
put  to  death.  Evidently  the  historian  is  wrong  here,  as 
the  time  was  quite  gone  by  for  putting  illustrious 
prisoners  to  death.  There  must  have  been  some  special 
reason  for  this  barbarity.  However,  his  son  Raymond 
believed  the  story,  and  in  order  to  avenge  his  death 
marched  a  force  to  the  mountains  and  brought  back  to 
Tripoli,  loaded  with  irons,  all  those  whom  he  could 
catch,  as  accessories  to  the  death  of  his  father.  There, 
in  presence  of  all  the  people,  the  poor  creatures,  who 
appear  to  have  done  nothing  at  all,  were  put  to  death 


294  JERUSALEM. 


with  different  kinds  of  tortures,  all  the  most  cruel,  *  in 
just  punishment  of  their  enormous  crimes.' 

And  now  the  misfortunes  of  the  Christian  kingdom 
began  fairly  to  set  in.  The  emperor  John  Comnenus, 
son  of  Alexis,  was  marching  across  Asia  Minor  with 
the  intention  of  renewing  his  father's  claims  on  Antioch. 
Raymond  sent  hurriedly  to  the  king  for  assistance. 
Fulke  went  northwards  again.  He  arrived  in  time  to 
hear  that  Zanghi  was  again  on  Christian  soil,  ravaging 
and  pillaging.  He  went  to  meet  him,  and  the  Chris- 
tian army  was  completely  and  terribly  defeated.  Fulke 
took  refuge  in  the  fortress  of  Montferrand.  Raymond 
of  Tripoli  was  made  prisoner.  In  this  juncture  an 
appeal  was  made  to  Jocelyn  of  Edessa  and  Raymond 
of  Antioch  to  come  to  their  assistance,  and  the  Patri- 
arch of  Jerusalem  was  ordered  to  muster  every  man  he 
could  find. 

It  was  the  most  critical  moment  in  the  history  of  the 
kingdom.  Fortunately  John  Comnenus  was  too  wise 
to  desire  the  destruction  of  the  Latin  Christians,  and 
he  contented  himself  with  the  homage  of  Raymond  of 
Antioch,  and  came  to  their  assistance.  But  the  Franks 
quarrelled  with  the  Greeks,  and  were  suspicious  of  their 
motives.  John  retired  in  disgust  with  his  allies  ;  a  year 
afterwards  he  came  back  again ;  was  insulted  by  the 
people  of  Antioch ;  was  actually  refused  permission  to 
go  as  a  pilgrim  to  Jerusalem,  except  in  disguise,  and  was 
killed  by  a  poisoned  arrow,  very  likely  by  a  Frank.  Thus 
the  Latins  lost  all  hope  of  succour  from  Constantinople, 
at  a  time  when  succour  from  some  quarter  was  neces- 
sary to  their  very  existence,  when  the  old  ardour  of 
crusading  which  had  kept  their  ranks  full  was  dying 
out  in  Europe,  and  when  their  chiefs,  the  children  of 
the  old  princes,  were  spending  their  days  in  slothful 


THIERRY  OF  FLANDERS.  295 

luxury,  careless  of  glory,  and  anxious  only  for  peace 
and  feasting. 

Fulke's  own  son-in-law,  Thierry  of  Flanders,  arriving 
at  this  time  with  a  large  following,  the  king  made  use  of 
his  men  to  go  across  the  Jordan  and  clear  away  a  nest  of 
brigands  which  had  been  established  in  certain  caverns 
on  a  mountain-side.  While  they  were  occupied  in  the 
regular  siege  of  this  place,  the  Turks  took  advantage 
of  their  absence,  and  made  a  predatory  incursion  into 
the  south  of  Palestine,  taking  and  plundering  the  little 
town  of  Tekoa.  Robert,  Grand  Master  of  the  Temp- 
lars, went  in  hot  haste  against  them.  They  fled  at  his 
approach  ;  but  the  Christians,  instead  of  keeping 
together  and  following  up  the  victory,  dispersed  all 
over  the  plain.  The  Turks  rallied,  and  forming  small  de- 
tachments, turned  upon  their  pursuers  and  slaughtered 
nearly  all  of  them.  Among  those  who  were  killed  was 
the  famous  Templar,  Odo  of  Montfaucon.  Fulke  was 
sore  afflicted  by  the  news  of  this  disaster,  but  persevered 
in  the  siege,  and  had  at  least  the  satisfaction  of  de- 
stroying his  robbers. 

One  more  military  expedition  King  Fulke  was  to 
make.  Allied  with  the  Emir  of  Damascus,  he  laid 
siege  to  the  town  of  Baucas,  which  Zanghi  had  taken. 
The  legate  of  the  pope,  Alberic  of  Ostia,  was  with  the 
army,  and  exhorted  them  to  courage  and  perseverance. 
After  an  obstinate  resistance,  the  town  capitulated  on 
honourable  terms. 

The  legate  had  come  from  Rome  to  act  as  judge  be- 
tween the  Patriarch  of  Antioch  and  the  bishops.  It  is 
not  easy  to  make  out  how  these  quarrels  arose,  nor  is  it 
edifying  to  relate  the  progress  of  squabbles  which  were 
chiefly  ecclesiastical.  Alberic  of  Ostia  had  been  recalled, 
and  a  new  legate,  Peter,  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  sent  out 


296  JERUSALEM. 


in  his  stead.  The  charges  against  the  patriarch  were 
chiefly  that  he  refused  to  submit  to  Rome.  William  of 
Tyre  gives  the  whole  story  of  the  trial  and  consequent 
deposition  of  the  patriarch.  He  was  taken  to  a  monas- 
tery as  a  prisoner,  and  kept  there  for  some  time,  but 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  Rome,  where  he  pleaded  his 
own  cause,  and  was  on  the  point  of  being  reinstated, 
when  he  died  of  poison. 

In  the  last  year  of  King  Fulke  three  important 
fortresses  were  built,  that  of  Kerak  in  Moab,  that  of 
Ibelin,  and  that  of  Tell  es  Safiyeh.  The  fortress  of 
Ibelin,  about  ten  miles  from  Ascalon,  was  on  the 
traditional  site  of  Gath.  The  citadel  built  on  Tell  es 
Safiyeh,  about  eight  miles  from  Ascalon,  and  called 
Blanchegarde,  was  made  the  strongest  place  in  Pales- 
tine, and  played  an  important  part  in  the  subsequent 
wars. 

One  day  in  1144,  Fulke,  walking  with  the  queen  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Acre,  put  up  a  hare  in  the  grass. 
Calling  for  a  horse  and  a  lance,  he  rode  after  it ;  and 
the  horse  falling,  brought  him  down  with  such  violence 
that  he  fractured  his  skull.  He  lingered  four  days  in  a 
state  of  insensibility,  and  then  died,  leaving  two  sons, 
aged  thirteen  and  seven  years  respectively,  by  his  wife 
Milicent. 


GENEALOGY  OF  FULKE. 


297 


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E 

CHAPTER  XL 

KING    BALDWIN   III.   AND    THE    SECOND   GREAT  CRUSADE. 
A.D.  II44 — Il62. 

'  Seigneurs,  je  m'en  voiz  outre  mer,  et  je  ne  scais  se  je  revendre\ 
Or  venez  avant  :  se  je  vous  ai  de  riens  mesfait,  je  le  vous  desferai 
l'un  par  l'autre,  si  comme  je  ai  accoutume  a  tous  ceulz  qui  vinront 
riens  demander  ni  a  moy  ni  a  ma  gent.'— Joinville. 

'  Hitherto,'  says  William  of  Tyre,  whom  we  have 
been  principally  following,  '  hitherto  the  events  I  have 
described  were  related  to  me  by  others.  All  that  follows 
I  have  either  seen  with  my  own  eyes  or  have  heard 
from  those  who  actually  were  present.  I  hope,  there- 
fore, with  the  assistance  of  God,  to  be  able  to  relate 
the  facts  that  I  have  yet  to  put  down  with  greater 
accuracy  and  facility.' 

He  was  a  young  man  when  Fulke  died,  and  preserves 
in  his  history  that  enthusiasm  for  his  successor  which 
one  of  his  own  age  would  probably  entertain,  and  which 
Baldwin's  early  death,  if  not  his  admirable  qualities, 
prevented  from  dying  out.  He  writes  of  him  as  one 
might  have  written  of  Charles  I.,  had  he  died  five  years 
after  he  came  to  the  throne,  or  of  Louis  XIV.,  had  he 
finished  his  reign  thirty  years  earlier. 

Baldwin  was  only  thirteen  when  with  his  mother, 
Milicent,  as  queen  and  regent,  he  was  crowned  king. 
Like  his  great  ancestors,  the  young  king  grew  up  taller 
and    stronger    than    the    generality  of   mankind ;    his 


CORONATION  OF  BALDWIN.  299 

features  were  firm  and  undaunted,  and  a  light  beard 
covered  his  lips  and  chin  ;  he  was  not  '  too  fat  like  his 
brother,  nor  too  thin  like  his  mother.'  In  short,  Bald- 
win, when  he  grew  up,  was  a  tall  and  handsome  man. 
As  for  his  mental  qualities,  his  biographer  exhausts 
himself  in  praises.  He  was  prompt  to  understand ; 
eloquent  and  fluent  of  speech  ;  affable  in  manners  ;  full 
of  compassion  and  tenderness ;  endowed  with  an  ex- 
cellent memory  (in  which  he  must  have  presented  a 
pleasing  contrast  to  his  father)  ;  tolerably  well  educated 
— l  better,  that  is,  than  his  brother  ' — the  biographer's 
standard  of  education  is  difficult  to  catch,  because  he 
afterwards  tells  us  of  Amaury  that  he  was  educated, 
'  but  not  so  v/ell  as  his  brother  ;'  he  was  fond  of  having 
read  to  him  the  lives  of  great  kings  and  the  deeds  of 
valiant  knights  ;  he  knew  thoroughly  the  common  law 
of  the  realm ;  his  powers  of  conversation  were  great 
and  charming ;  he  attached  to  himself  the  affections  of 
everybody  high  and  low.  '  And,'  says  the  worthy 
bishop,  '  what  is  more  rare  in  persons  of  his  age,  is  that 
he  showed  all  sorts  of  respect  for  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tions, and  especially  for  the  Prelates  of  the  Churches.' 
Where  could  a  finer  king  be  found  ? 

If  he  had  a  fault  it  was  that  he  was  fond  of  gaming 
and  dice.  As  the  greater  part  of  his  life  was  spent  on 
horseback,  it  was  only  occasionally  that  he  could 
indulge  in  this  vice.  Another  fault  he  had  as  a 
youth  which  he  entirely  renounced  in  later  years. 
To  the  credit  of  King  Baldwin  it  is  recorded  that  he 
was,  after  his  marriage,  entirely  blameless  in  respect 
of  women.  Now  by  this  time  the  morals  of  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  were  in  an  extremely  bad 
way,  and  the  example  of  the  young  king  could  not  fail 
of  producing  a  great  and  most  beneficial  effect. 


300  JERUSALEM. 

Queen  Milicent  was  an  ambitious  woman,  like  her 
sister  Alice,  and  had  no  intention  at  all  of  being  a 
puppet.  She  accordingly  insisted  on  being  crowned 
together  with  her  son.  The  Kings  of  Jerusalem  had 
ceased  to  affect  that  proud  humility  which  made  God- 
frey refuse  to  wear  a  crown  when  his  Lord  had  only 
worn  thorns,  and  sent  Baldwin  I.  to  Bethlehem  to  be 
crowned,  as  it  were,  out  of  sight  of  the  city  of  Christ's 
sufferings.  Now  the  ceremony  was  held  in  the  very 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  which  was  the  cathedral 
of  the  Christian  city.  In  the  king's  hands  was  placed 
the  sword,  with  which  to  defend  justice  and  Holy 
Church  ;  on  his  finger  they  put  the  ring  of  faith  ;  on 
his  head  the  crown  of  honour  ;  in  his  right  hand  the 
sceptre  of  authority  and  the  golden  apple  of  sove- 
reignty. 

Mother  and  son  were  crowned  together,  and  the  un- 
happy state,  which  wanted  the  firm  hand  of  a  Godfrey, 
found  itself  ruled  by  a  boy  and  a  woman.  The  barons 
began  to  take  sides  and  form  parties.  There  was  no 
leader  in  the  councils,  none  to  whom  they  could  look 
to  as  the  common  head,  and  if  one  advanced  above  the 
rest  they  regarded  him  with  suspicion  and  envy.  Worst 
of  all,  they  began  to  fight  with  each  other.  In  the 
north,  Raymond  of  Antioch  and  young  Jocelyn  of 
Edessa  looked  upon  each  other  as  enemies,  and  spent 
most  of  their  time  in  trying  to  devise  means  of  mutual 
annoyance.  Jocelyn,  who  ought  to  have  been  occupied  | 
in  organizing  means  for  the  defence  of  his  dominions 
against  the  formidable  Zanghi,  when  he  was  not  harry- 
ing Raymond,  lay  inactive  at  Tellbasher,  where  he 
indulged  in  his  favourite  pleasures,  hoping  to  spend 
the  rest  of  his  life  in  ignoble  ease,  looking  out  upon 
the   world  with   those   goggle    eyes    of    his,   the   only 


CORONA  TION  OF  BALD  WIN.  30 1 

feature,  and  that  not  a  lovely  one,  recorded  of  this 
prince. 

But  he  was  to  be  rudely  shaken  from  his  slumber. 
It  was  in  the  early  winter  of  1144,  the  year  of  Baldwin's 
accession,  when  news  came  to  him  that  Zanghi  was 
before  the  walls  of  Edessa  with  an  immense  army. 
Jocelyn,  roused  too  late,  sent  everywhere  for  assistance. 
Raymond  would  not  help  him  ;  his  own  knights  re- 
proached him  with  his  indolence  and  apathy,  and  de- 
clared that  they  would  not  march  to  certain  death. 
Queen  Milicent  issued  orders  for  the  army  to  move 
northwards,  which  were  not  obeyed  ;  and  Edessa  was 
doomed. 

Zanghi,  finding  success  almost  certain,  redoubled  his 
efforts,  and  sent  for  reinforcements  in  all  directions. 
He  even  offered  favourable  terms  of  surrender  ;  but 
these  were  refused.  Zanghi's  plan  of  siege  was  the 
ordinary  one,  quietly  to  undermine  the  towers,  propping 
up  the  earth  as  it  was  removed  with  timber.  When 
the  proper  time  arrived,  the  timber  would  be  set  fire 
to,  and  of  course  the  tower  would  fall.  The  Latin 
archbishop,  who  appears  to  have  been  in  command, 
would  hear  of  no  surrender,  and  exhorted  the  people 
daily,  holding  forth  the  promise  of  the  crown  of 
martyrdom.  But  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  the 
siege  the  towers  which  had  been  undermined  fell  with 
a  crash,  and  the  enemy  poured  in.  The  first  thought 
of  the  people  was  to  fly  for  shelter  to  the  citadel.  Many 
were  crushed  or  trampled  to  death  in  the  attempt, 
among  whom  was  Archbishop  Hugh,  who  had  been 
storing  up  gold,  and  now  tried  to  carry  it  into  the 
citadel.  The  weight  of  his  treasure  helped  to  bear 
him  down.  The  enemy  were  before  them  at  the  gates 
of  the  citadel,  and  the  slaughter  of  the  helpless  people 


5o2  JERUSALEM. 


commenced,  with  all  the  horrors  usual  after  a  siege. 
Islam  was  triumphant ;  Christendom  in  despair. 

But  Zanghi  died  next  year,  being  assassinated  by  his 
own  slaves,  and  a  lively  joy  was  diffused  throughout 
Palestine.  '  A  certain  Christian,'  says  William  of  Tyre, 
with  admirable  modesty,  for,  of  course,  he  was  him- 
self the  accomplished  poet,  directly  he  heard  of  this 
event,  delivered  himself  of  the  following  melodious 
impromptu  :* 

'  Quam  bonus  eventus  !  fit  sanguine  sanguinolentus 
Vir  homicida,  reus,  nomine  sanguineus.' 

King  Baldwin  won  his  spurs  while  yet  a  boy,  first  by 
a  short  and  successful  expedition  beyond  the  Jordan, 
and  next  by  his  Quixotic  attempt  on  the  town  of 
Bozrah,  in  the  Hauran.  It  was  an  attempt  undertaken 
in  haste  and  without  reflection,  and  doomed  from  the 
outset  to  failure.  A  certain  Armenian,  governor  of  the 
town,  influenced  probably  by  some  private  motives  of 
revenge,  came  to  Jerusalem  and  offered  to  put  the 
town  in  the  hands  of  the  Christians,  if  they  wished  to 
have  it.  There  was  still  lingering,  in  spite  of  the  fall  of 
Edessa,  some  remains  of  the  old  spirit  of  conquest, 
and,  regardless  of  the  dangers  which  hovered  round 
the  kingdom,  and  of  the  pressing  necessity  for  con- 
solidating all  their  strength  for  purposes  of  defence, 
the  Christians  tumultuously  demanded  to  be  led  to  the 
attack,  and  an  army  was  called  together.  Baldwin 
went  with  them.  The  troops  assembled  in  the  north 
and  started  full  of  vainglorious  confidence.  On  the 
second  day  they  found  themselves  surrounded  with 
clouds  of  enemies,  who  assailed  them  with  showers  of 
darts.  The  country  was  a  desert ;  as  the  only  means 
*  The  chroniclers  wrote  his  name  Sanguin. 


EXPEDITION  TO  BOZRAH.  303 

of  getting    water,    the    people    had    formed    artificial 
cisterns,  in  which  the  winter  rains  were  stored.     But 
they    were    filled   with    dead    bodies    of  locusts,    and 
the   water  was   too  bad  even   for   men  parched  with 
thirst.     The  Christians  struggled  on.     They  arrived  at 
Edrei.     Here,  at  least,  they  would  get  water.     But  at 
Edrei  as  well  the  water  was  all  stored  in  large  cisterns. 
They  let  down  buckets  by  ropes  :  men  hidden  below 
cut  the  ropes.     For  four  days  they  pressed  on,  how- 
ever, while  the  enemy  were  reinforced  hourly,  and  by 
day  and  night  a  continuous  hail-storm  of  arrows  and 
projectiles    was    showered    into    the    camp,    so    that 
neither  man  nor  beast  among  the  Christians  escaped 
without  some  wound.     On  the  fourth  day,  they  were 
cheered  by  the  sight  of  the  town  of  Bozrah,  and  by 
the  discovery    of  certain  small  rills   of  water,    which 
they  fought    for,  and  won  at  the  cost  of  many  lives. 
But    in  the  dead  of  night  a   messenger   of  very  evil 
tidings  came  into  the  camp.     The  wife  of  the  Armenian 
had  refused  to  be  a  partner  in  her  husband's  treachery: 
the  enemy  occupied  the  city  in  force,  and  all  hope  was 
to  be  given  over    of  taking   it   by   storm.     Then  the 
Christians  despaired.     Some  of  them  advised  the  king 
to  mount  the  fleetest  horse — that  of  John  Gomain — in 
the  camp,  and  make  his  way  back  alone,  so  that    at 
least   his   life  might    have    a   chance    of  being  saved. 
But  Baldwin,  brave  boy  that  he  was,  refused.     He  had 
not  had  the  stories  of  valiant  knights  read  to  him  for 
nothing.     He  would  remain  with  his  army  and  share 
their  fate.     At  break  of  day  the  camp  was  broken  up 
and  the  retreat  commenced.     Orders  were  given  to  lay 
the  dead  and  the  wounded,  as  they  fell,  on  the  beasts  of 
burden,  so  that  the  enemy  might  not  know  the  havoc 
they    were    making,    and   then,    for    Nur-ed-din    was 


304  JERUSALEM. 


already  on  the  alert,  they  started  on  their  disastrous 
and  melancholy  retreat.  The  heat  was  oppressive  ; 
there  was  no  water;  clouds  of  dust  hung  over  the 
little  army ;  clouds  of  Saracens  rode  round  them  firing 
arrows  into  their  midst.  And  yet  the  Christians  moved 
on  in  good  order.  More  wonderful  still,  there  was  not 
a  single  dead  body  behind  them.  Were  they,  then,  pro- 
tected by  some  unknown  power  ?  The  Saracens 
hesitated.  Thinking  that  their  arrows  had  no  effect, 
and  ignorant  of  the  ghastly  load  under  which  the 
camels  were  groaning,  they  tried  another  method.  The 
whole  country  was  covered  with  dry  bushes  and  grass. 
They  therefore  made  a  prairie  fire,  and  the  wind  blew 
the  flames  and  smoke  directly  upon  the  Christians. 
And  then  the  people  turned  to  Archbishop  Robert  of 
Nazareth,  who  bore  the  Holy  Cross :  *  Pray  for  us, 
father,'  they  cried,  'pray  for  us  in  the  name  of  the  wood 
of  the  Cross  that  you  bear  in  your  hands,  for  we  can 
no  longer  bear  our  sufferings.'  It  was  high  time  that 
Robert  should  pray  :  the  faces  and  hands  of  the  army 
were  blackened  with  smoke  and  dust ;  *  they  were  like 
blacksmiths  working  at  the  forge  :'  their  throats  were 
dry  with  heat  and  thirst. 

The  archbishop  prayed,  and  at  his  prayer  the  wind 
shifted,  and  the  flames  were  blown  towards  the  enemy. 
Then  the  Christians  resolved  to  send  a  messenger  to 
the  Saracens.  They  chose  a  knight  who  had  been  sus- 
pected of  treachery,  but  they  had  no  other  choice, 
because  he  alone  spoke  the  language  of  the  enemy. 
They  asked  him  if  he  would  faithfully  perform  his 
mission.  '  I  am  suspected,'  he  said,  '  unjustly.  I  will 
go  where  you  wish  me.  If  I  am  guilty  of  the  crime 
you  impute  to  me,  may  I  never  return — may  I  perish 
by  the  enemy's  weapons  !'     He  went,   but  before  he 


RETURN  OF  THE  ARMY.  305 

had  gone  far  the  poor  wretch  fell  dead,  pierced  by  a 
hundred  arrows. 

Then  the  Christians  pressed  on.  Arrived  near 
Damascus,  the  Emir  of  that  city  sent  a  messenger  to 
them.  If  they  would  halt,  he  would  feed  and  entertain 
them  all.  Worn,  thirsty,  and  wearied  as  they  were, 
they  suspected  his  good  faith,  and  hurried  on.  In 
after-times  it  was  related  that  a  knight,  whom  none  had 
seen  before,  appeared  every  morning  at  the  head  of  the 
army,  guided  them  during  the  day  by  roads  unknown 
to  the  enemy,  and  disappeared  at  night.  Doubtless, 
St.  George.  We  have  said  before  that  the  time  for 
saints'  help  ended  with  Godfrey.  A  saint  appears 
again,  it  is  true,  but  with  how  great  a  change  !  The  last 
time  St.  George,  fought  for  the  Christians,  he  led  them 
on  to  victory  after  victory.  Now  he  shows  them  the 
only  way  by  which,  broken  down  and  utterly  beaten, 
they  can  escape  with  their  lives. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  Jerusalem  when  the 
remnant  of  the  army,  with  the  young  king,  came  back. 
Those  who  had  been  wont  to  sing  psalms  for  the 
defeat  of  the  enemy,  sang  them  now  for  the  safe 
return  of  the  defeated  king.  '  This  our  son,'  they 
chanted,  '  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again  :  he  was  lost, 
and  is  found.' 

After  the  death  of  Zanghi,  who  had  repeopled  the 
city  of  Edessa,  the  ill-advised  Jocelyn  instigated  the 
people  to  revolt  against  their  new  masters.  All  the 
Turks  in  the  place  were  put  to  death,  and  Jocelyn, 
once  more  reinstated  in  the  city  of  his  father,  sent 
';  messengers  in  all  directions,  asking  for  help.  No  help 
came,  for  it  was  impossible  that  anyone  should  send 
help.  Nur-ed-din  came  to  the  town  with  ten  thousand 
men  before  Jocelyn  had  held  it  for  a  week.     He  vowed 

20 


I 


306  JERUSALEM. 

to  exterminate  the  Christians,  and  these  were  too  few 
in  number  to  make  any  resistance.  They  threw  open 
the  gates,  and  all  sallied  forth  together,  with  the 
resolution  to  fight  their  way  through  the  beleaguer- 
ing army.  Jocelyn  got  through,  and,  with  a  few 
knights,  reached  Samosata  in  safety.  The  rest  of  the 
people  were  all  massacred. 

Some  years  after  this,  Jocelyn  himself  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  nine  years,  in 
captivity,  far  enough  removed  from  any  chance  of  in- 
dulging in  those  vices  which  had  ruined  him,  and 
perilled  the  realm.  It  was  a  fitting  end  to  a  career 
which  might  have  been  glorious,  if  glory  is  a  thing  to 
desire  ;  which  might  have  assured  the  safety  of  the 
Latin  kingdom,  if,  which  is  a  thing  to  be  questioned, 
the  Latin  kingdom  was  now  worth  saving. 

And  now  hostilities  on  both  sides  seem  to  have  been 
for  a  time  suspended,  for  the  news  reached  the  East 
how  another  Crusade  had  been  preached  in  the  West, 
and  gigantic  armies  were  already  moving  eastwards  to 
protect  the  realm,  and  reconquer  the  places  which  had 
been  lost.  Signs,  too  were  not  wanting  which,  though 
they  might  be  interpreted  to  signify  disaster,  could  yet 
be  read  the  other  way.  A  comet,  for  instance ;  this 
might  portend  evil  for  the  Saracens — Heaven  grant  it 
was  intended  to  strike  terror  into  their  hearts  !  But 
what  could  be  said  of  the  lightning  which  struck,  of  all 
places  in  the  world,  the  very  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  itself?  Nothing  but  the  anger  of  God  could 
be  inferred  from  a  manifestation  so  clear,  and  the 
hearts  of  all  were  filled  with  terror  and  forebodings. 

The  details  of  the  second  Crusade,  as  it  is  called, 
unhappily  resemble  those  of  the  first.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary that  we  should  do  more  than  follow  the  leading 


SECOND  CRUSADE.  307 

incidents  which  preceded  the  arrival  of  the  soldiers — 
all  who  were  left — in  Palestine. 

It  was  exactly  fifty  years  since  Peter  the  Hermit 
went  through  France  telling  of  the  indignities  offered 
to  the  pilgrims,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  faithful.  But 
in  fifty  years  a  vast  change  had  come  over  the  West. 
Knowledge  had  taken  the  place  of  ignorance.  No  fear 
now  that  the  rude  soldiery  would  ask,  as  every  fresh 
town  rose  before  their  eyes,  if  that  was  Jerusalem. 
There  was  not  a  village  in  the  West,  whither  some  old 
Crusader  had  not  returned  to  tell  of  the  long  march, 
the  frightful  sufferings  on  the  way,  the  obstinacy  of  the 
enemy,  the  death  of  his  friends.  From  sea  to  sea,  in 
France  at  least,  the  East  seemed  as  well  known  as  the 
West,  for  from  every  province  someone  had  gone  forth 
to  become  a  great  man  in  Palestine.  Fulke  from 
Anjou,  Godfrey  from  Lorraine,  Raymond  from  Toulouse, 
another  Raymond  from  Poitou,  Robert  from  Nor- 
mandy, another  Robert  from  Flanders,  Hugh  le  Grand 
from  Paris,  Stephen  from  Blois,  and  fifty  others,  whose 
name  and  fame  were  spread  far  and  wide  in  their  native 
places,  so  that  men  knew  now  what  lay  before  them 
They  went,  if  they  went  at  all,  to  fight,  and  defend,  not 
to  conquer.  The  city  was  Christian ;  but  there  was 
plunder  and  glory  to  be  got  by  fighting  beyond  the  city. 

Bernard  proclaimed  the  Crusade.  He  preached  the 
necessity  of  going  to  the  assistance  of  a  kingdom  dear 
to  all  Christian  eyes,  now  visibly  tottering  to  its  fall. 
j  He  called  attention  to  the  universal  corruption  of 
morals,  which  he  declared  to  be  worse  than  any  state 
of  things  ever  known  before.  To  the  preacher,  the 
state  of  morals  is  always  the  worst  ever  known.  Had 
Bernard,  for  instance,  lived  in  the  present  day ! 
He     forbore    from    promising     easy    conquests     and 

20 — 2 


3o8  JERUSALEM. 


victories  where  all  the  blood  would  be  that  of  the 
infidel ;  on  the  contrary,  he  told  the  people  that  the 
penances  inflicted  by  God  Himself  for  their  sins  were 
the  clash  of  arms,  the  fatigues  and  dangers  of  war,  the 
hard  fighting  and  physical  suffering  of  a  campaign 
under  the  sun  of  Syria  ;  and,  which  is  very  significant, 
he  appears  to  have  invoked  a  curse  upon  all  who 
refused  to  obey  the  summons  and  follow  to  the  Holy 
War. 

The  first  Crusaders  set  off  with  light  and  buoyant 
hearts.  They  were  marching,  they  thought,  to  certain 
conquest ;  the  walls  would  fall  down  before  them  ;  it 
was  a  privilege  and  a  sacred  pleasure  to  have  taken 
the  sign  of  the  Cross.  The  second  army  started  with 
gloomy  forebodings  of  misery  and  suffering ;  they  were 
going  on  a  penitential  journey  ;  they  were  about  to 
encounter  perils  which  they  knew  to  be  terrible,  an 
enemy  whom  they  knew  to  be  countless  as  the  sands 
of  their  own  deserts,  not  because  they  wanted  to  fight, 
but  because  Bernard,  who  could  not  err,  told  them 
that  God  Himself  laid  this  penance  on  their  shoulders. 
Every  step  that  brought  Peter's  rough  and  rude  army 
nearer  to  Constantinople  was  a  step  of  pleasure  ;  every 
step  that  the  second  army  took  was  an  addition  to  the 
penance  imposed  by  this  importunate  preacher.  The 
most  penitential  of  all  was  the  young  king,  Louis  VII.  of 
France,  upon  whose  conscience  there  lay  the  terrible 
crime  of  having  burned  the  church  at  Vitry ;  for  in  the 
church,  which  he  had  fired  himself,  were  thirteen  hun- 
dred men,  women,  and  children,  who  were  all  burned 
with  it.  The  king  would  fain  have  saved  them,  but 
could  not,  and  when  he  saw  their  blackened  and  half- 
burned  bodies  his  soul  was  sick  within  him  for  remorse 
and  sorrow.     It  was  a  calamity — for  which,  however, 


SECOND  CRUSADE.  309 

the  king  was  not,  perhaps,  wholly  responsible — worse 
than  that  modern  burning  of  the  women  of  Santiago. 
On  the  way  through  Germany,  to  be  sure,  they  were 
happily  enabled  to  expiate  some  small  part  of  their  sins 
by  murdering  the  Jews — a  cheap  and  even  profitable  way 
of  purifying  the  troubled  conscience,  because  they  plun- 
dered as  well  as  murdered  them.  Bernard,  to  his 
infinite  credit,  stayed  the  hand  of  persecution,  and 
showed  the  people  that  this  was  not,  hateful  as  a  Jew 
must  always  be  to  a  Christian,  the  way  pointed  out  by 
Heaven.  The  preaching  of  Bernard  was  seconded  by 
the  exhortations  of  the  poets,  who  united  in  singing 
the  praises  of  those  who  take  the  Cross,  and  in  de- 
nouncing those  who  refused.     '  Rise,'  says  one  bard, 

'  Rise,  ye  who  love  with  loyal  heart  ; 

Awake,  nor  sleep  the  hours  away  : 
Now  doth  the  darksome  night  depart, 

And  now  the  lark  leads  in  the  day  : 
Hear  how  he  sings  with  joyous  strain 

The  morn  of  peace  which  God  doth  give 
To  those  who  heed  nor  scathe  nor  pain  ; 

Who  dare  in  peril  still  to  live  ; 
Who,  night  or  day,  no  rest  may  ta^e, 
But  bear  the  Cross  for  Christ's  own  sake.5 

The  Crusade  consisted  wholly  of  Germans  and 
French.  The  former  went  first,  headed  by  Conrad, 
King  of  the  Romans,  who  left  his  son  Henry  in  charge 
of  his  dominions.  They  got  through  the  Greek 
emperor's  dominions  with  some  difficulty,  being  unruly 
and  little  amenable  to  discipline,  but  were  at  last  safely 
conveyed  across  the  straits  to  Asia  Minor,  where  they 
ought  to  have  awaited  the  arrival  of  King  Louis,  but 
unfortunately  did  not. 

In  France  an  enormous  army  had  been  collected  by 
help  of  the  old  cry  of  '  Dieu  le  veut,'  the  magic  of 
I which  had  not  yet  died  out;    there  must  have  been 


JERUSALEM. 


men,  not  very  old,  who  remembered  the  preaching  of 
Peter,  and  the  frantic  cries  with  which  the  Cross  was 
demanded  after  one  of  his  fiery  harangues.  Bernard 
wrote  to  the  pope,  with  monkish  exaggeration,  that 
'  the  villages  and  the  castles  are  deserted,  and  one  sees 
none  but  widows  and  orphans  whose  husbands  and 
fathers  are  yet  living.'  Most  of  them,  alas  !  were  to 
remain  widows  and  orphans  indeed,  for  the  husbands 
and  fathers  were  never  destined  to  return.  And,  as  in 
the  first  Crusade,  many  of  those  who  joined  ruined 
themselves  in  procuring  the  arms  and  money  necessary 
for  their  outfit.  The  Church,  as  before,  kindly  came 
to  their  assistance  by  buying  their  lands  of  them  at  a 
nominal  value. 

The  gravest  mistake  was  that  made  at  the  very  out- 
set, when  the  barons  were  permitted  to  take  with  them 
their  wives.  Queen  Eleanor,  who  afterwards  married 
our  Henry  II.,  went  with  her  husband,  accompanied 
by  a  great  number  of  ladies,  and  the  presence  of  large 
numbers  of  women  in  the  camp  caused  grave  disorder, 
and  subsequently  great  peril,  both  to  the  French  and 
German  armies. 

It  was  in  the  early  winter  of  1147  that  the  Crusaders 
crossed  the  Hellespont.  Without  waiting  for  the 
French,  the  Germans,  divided  into  two  bodies,  had 
pushed  on.  They  reckoned  on  the  friendship  of  the 
Greeks,  but  they  were  grievously  disappointed.  Extra- 
vagant prices  were  demanded  for  the  most  inferior 
food ;  lime  was  put  into  the  bread,  which  killed  many ; 
the  Turcopoles  hovered  about  and  cut  off  the  supplies ;  i 
but,  in  spite  of  these  obstacles,  a  portion  of  the  army, 
under  the  Bishop  of  Freisingen,  managed  to  reach 
Syria.  As  for  the  larger  part,  under  Conrad,  they  were 
guided  as  far  as  Dorylaeum,  where  the  first  Crusaders 


SECOND  CRUSADE.  311 

had  so  hard  a  battle.  Here  the  guides  ran  away,  and 
the  Turks  fell  upon  them.  The  army  consisted  of 
seventy  thousand  horse,  and  a  vast  multitude  of  foot- 
soldiers,  of  women,  and  of  children.  About  seven 
thousand  horse  escaped  with  King  Conrad.  All  the 
rest  were  slaughtered.  No  greater  calamity  had  ever 
happened  to  the  Christian  arms.  Conrad  got  back  to 
Nicaea,  where  Louis,  who  had  just  arrived,  was  en- 
camped. The  French  resolved  to  take  the  way  by  the 
seashore.  We  need  not  follow  through  all  the  perils 
of  their  march.  They  fought  their  way  to  Ephesus  ; 
thence,  crossing  the  Mseander,  they  came  to  a  place 
called  Satalia,  at  the  western  extremity  of  Cilicia ;  and 
here  Louis  left  them,  and  went  by  sea  to  Antioch.  The 
plague  broke  out  among  the  troops  ;  the  Greeks  refused 
them  any  help,  which  they  got  from  the  very  Turks 
whom  they  came  to  fight  ;  and  finally,  out  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  who  had  left  the  West  a  year  before, 
a  few  thousands  only  struggled  into  Syria.  Of  all  the 
unfortunate  women  who  went  with  them,  their  wives 
and  mistresses,  not  one  got  to  Palestine,  save  only 
Queen  Eleanor  and  her  suite. 

Raymond  of  Antioch  was  the  cousin  of  Eleanor.  He 
welcomed  Louis  and  his  queen  to  his  little  court,  and 
immediately  began  to  cast  about  for  some  way  of  making 
their  expedition  to  Palestine  serviceable  to  himself.  It 
was  the  way  of  all  these  Syrian  knights  and  barons. 
Every  man  looked  to  himself  and  to  his  own  interests ; 
no  man  cared  about  the  general  interest.  Jocelyn  of 
Edessa,  who  was  not  yet  put  into  prison,  Pons  of 
Tripoli,  Raymond  of  Antioch,  all  hoped  to  catch  the 
great  kings  of  the  West  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem, 
and  to  turn  the  Crusade  into  such  channels  as  might 
advance  their  own  interests. 


312  JERUSALEM. 


Suspecting  nothing,  Louis  made  a  lengthened  stay  at 
Antioch,  waiting  for  the  remains  of  his  great  army. 
Raymond,  thinking  the  best  means  of  getting  at  the  king 
was  through  his  consort,  employed  every  means  in  his 
power  to  amuse  Eleanor.  She,  who  had  no  kind  of 
sympathy  with  the  piety  or  remorse  of  her  royal  hus- 
band, preferred  the  feastings  and  amusements  of  An- 
tioch to  anything  else,  and  would  gladly  have  protracted 
them.  But  her  own  conduct  and  the  levity  of  her 
manners  caused  grievous  scandal,  and  effectually  pre- 
vented her  from  having  any  influence  over  the  king, 
who,  when  pressed  to  help  Raymond,  coldly  replied 
that,  before  anything  else,  he  must  visit  the  holy  places. 
Raymond,  who  had  succeeded  in  pleasing  the  queen, 
if  he  had  not  won  her  heart,  by  way  of  revenge,  per- 
suaded Eleanor  to  announce  her  intention  of  getting 
divorced  from  the  king  on  the  ground  of  consanguinity, 
while  Raymond  declared  that  he  would  keep  her,  by 
force,  if  necessary,  at  his  court.  Louis  took  counsel  of 
his  followers,  and  by  their  advice  carried  off  his  queen 
by  night,  and  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  Tripoli,  where 
he  was  met  by  an  emissary  of  Queen  Milicent,  who  was 
afraid  he  would  be  drawn  into  some  enterprise  by  the 
count,  urging  him  to  come  straight  on  to  Jerusalem. 

In  June,  1148,  a  great  council  of  the  assembled  kings 
and  chiefs  was  held  at  Acre.  At  this  meeting  were 
present  King  Baldwin,  Queen  Milicent,  the  Patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  the  barons  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
Grand  Masters  of  the  two  great  orders  of  the  Temple 
and  St.  John,  on  behalf  of  the  Christian  kingdom  ; 
while  the  Crusaders  were  represented  by  Kings  Conrad 
and  Louis,  Otto  Bishop  of  Freisingen,  brother  of 
Conrad,  Frederick  (afterwards  Barbarossa),  his  nephew, 
the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  Cardinal  Guy  of  Florence, 


COUNCIL  AT  A CRE.  3 1 3 

Count  Thierry  of  Flanders,  and  many  other  noble 
lords.  Only  it  was  remarked,  by  those  who  were 
anxious  for  the  future,  that  the  Counts  of  Tripoli, 
Edessa,  and  Antioch  were  not  present,  while  it  was 
ominous  that  Eleanor  of  France  did  not  take  her  seat 
with  the  other  ladies  who  were  present  at  the  council. 

There  were  several  courses  open  to  the  Crusaders. 
They  might  retake  Edessa,  and  so  establish  again  that 
formidable  outpost  as  a  bulwark  to  the  kingdom.  They 
might  strengthen  the  hands  of  Raymond,  and  so  make 
up  for  the  loss  of  Edessa.  They  might  take  Ascalon, 
always  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  realm  ;  or  they  might 
strike  out  a  new  line  altogether,  and  win  glory  for  them- 
selves by  an  entirely  new  conquest,  an  exploit  of 
danger  and  honour.  Most  unfortunately,  they  resolved 
upon  the  last,  and  determined  on  taking  the  city  of 
Damascus.  Such  a  feat  of  arms  commended  itself 
naturally  to  the  rough  fighting  men.  They  despised 
Jocelyn  ;  they  resented  the  treatment  of  Raymond ; 
and  therefore  they  could  not  be  got  to  see  that  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  either  of  these  was  to  strengthen 
the  power  of  the  Christians,  while  to  conquer  new  lands 
was  to  increase  their  weakness  and  multiply  the  hatred 
and  thirst  of  revenge  of  their  enemies.  And  with  that 
want  of  foresight  which  always  distinguished  the  Cru- 
saders, they  followed  up  their  resolution  by  immediate 
action,  and  started  on  their  new  enterprise  with  the 
eagerness  of  children,  in  spite  of  a  burning  July  sun. 
The  King  of  Jerusalem  marched  first,  because  his  men 
knew  the  roads  ;  next  came  King  Louis,  with  his 
French  ;  and  lastly,  the  Germans,  under  Conrad.  On 
the  west  side  of  Damascus  lay  its  famous  gardens,  and 
it  was  determined  first  to  attack  the  city  from  this  side. 
The  paths  were  narrow,  and  behind  the  bushes  were 


314  JERUSALEM. 

men  armed  with  spears,  which  they  poked  through  at 
the  invaders  as  they  passed.  The  brick  walls  which 
hedged  in  the  gardens  were  perforated,  with  a  similar 
object.  There  was  thus  a  considerable  amount  of 
fighting  to  be  done  in  dislodging  these  hidden  enemies 
before  the  Christians  managed  to  make  themselves 
masters  of  the  position.  It  was  done  at  last,  all  the 
leaders  having  performed  the  usual  prodigies  of 
strength  and  valour — Conrad  himself  cut  a  gigantic 
Saracen  right  through  the  body,  so  that  his  head,  neck, 
shoulder,  and  left  arm  fell  off  together,  a  clean  sweep 
indeed — and  the  Damascenes  gave  themselves  up  for 
lost.  And  then  happened  a  very  singular  and  inex- 
plicable circumstance.  The  Christians  deliberately 
abandoned  a  position  which  had  cost  them  so  much  to 
win,  and  resolved  to  cross  over  the  river  to  the  other 
side,  where  they  were  persuaded  that  the  attack  would 
be  much  easier.  They  went  across.  They  found  them- 
selves without  water,  without  provisions,  and  in  a  far 
worse  position  for  the  siege  than  before.  The  Damas- 
cenes received  reinforcements,  closed  up  the  approaches 
to  the  gardens,  and  quietly  waited  the  course  of  events. 
There  was  nothing  left  but  to  retreat ;  and  the  Chris- 
tians, breaking  up  their  camp  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  retreated,  or  rather  fled,  in  disgrace  and  con- 
fusion.    This  was  the  end  of  the  second  Crusade. 

Why  did  they  leave  the  gardens  ?  Many  answers, 
all  pointing  to  treachery,  were  given  to  the  question. 
Some  said  that  Thierry  of  Flanders  wanted  the  city, 
and  because  the  chiefs  would  not  promise  it  to  him, 
preferred  seeing  it  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
and  so  became  a  traitor.  Others  told  how  the  Templars 
arranged  the  whole  matter  for  three  great  casks  full  of 
gold  byzants,  which,  when  they  were  examined,  turned 


INVA  SION  OF  ANTIOCH.  3 1 5 

out  to  be  all  copper.  Raymond  of  Antioch,  according  to 
a  third  story,  contrived  that  false  counsels  should  be 
given  out  of  revenge  to  the  king.  And  so  on.  Talk 
everywhere,  treachery  somewhere,  that  was  clear,  be- 
cause treachery  was  in  the  Syrian  air,  and  because 
knights,  and  barons,  and  priests  were  all  alike  selfish 
and  interested,  rogues  and  cheats — all  but  King  Bald- 
win. '  Whoever  were  the  traitors,'  says  the  historian, 
1  let  them  learn  that  sooner  or  later  they  shall  be 
rewarded  according  to  their  merits,  unless  the  Lord 
deign  to  extend  them  His  mercy.'  He  evidently 
inclines  to  the  hope  that  mercy  will  not  be  extended  to 
them. 

Disgusted  with  a  people  who  would  not  be  served, 
and  wearied  of  broken  promises  and  faithless  hopes,  the 
chiefs  of  the  Crusade  made  haste  to  shake  off  the  dust 
of  their  feet,  and  to  leave  the  doomed  kingdom  to  its 
fate.  Some  of  their  men  remained  behind,  a  reinforce- 
ment which  enabled  Baldwin  to  keep  up  his  courage 
and  show  a  bold  front  to  the  enemy  so  long  as  his  life 
lasted. 

Nur-ed-din,  directly  they  were  gone,  invaded  Antioch, 
and  Raymond  was  killed  in  one  of  the  small  skirmishes 
which  took  place.  At  this  time,  too,  Jocelyn  of  Edessa 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  and  was  put  into 
prison.  It  was  almost  impossible  for  Baldwin  to  defend 
Antioch  alone.  Nevertheless,  he  held  it  manfully,  and 
it  was  not  till  after  his  time  that  it  was  ceded  to  the 
Greeks,  who  in  their  turn  surrendered  it  to  the  Turks. 
Tripoli,  the  count  of  which  town  was  himself  assas- 
sinated, remained  the  only  bulwark  of  the  kingdom. 
The  eyes  of  Palestine  were  turned  again  upon  Europe. 
But  from  Europe  little  help  could  now  be  expected. 
Louis,  returning    defeated    and    inglorious,   had   been 


316  JERUSALEM. 


hailed  as  a  conqueror.  Medals  were  struck  in  his 
honour  with  the  lying  legend  : 

1  Regi  invicto  ab  Oriente  reduci 
Frementes  lsetitia  cives. ' 

And,  though  he  promised  to  lead  another  Crusade, 
his  conscience  was  appeased  by  his  pilgrimage,  and 
his  love  of  praise  was  satisfied  by  the  honours  he  re- 
ceived. Therefore  he  went  no  more.  Moreover,  two 
new  methods  of  crusading  were  discovered,  nearer 
home,  and  far  more  profitable.  In  the  north  of 
Germany  lay  a  large  and  fertile  country,  inhabited 
wholly  by  pagans.  Why  not  conquer  that,  and  reduce 
so  fair  a  land  to  Christianity  ?  And  in  Spain,  so  close 
at  hand  for  pious  Frenchmen,  were  vast  provinces,  rich 
beyond  measure,  all  in  the  hands  of  those  very  Saracens 
whom  they  were  asked  to  go  all  the  way  to  Palestine  in 
order  to  fight.  And  then  there  died  both  Bernard  and 
Suger,  the  sagacious  Suger,  who  saw  the  disgrace  which 
had  fallen  on  the  Christian  arms,  and  wished  to  repair 
it  by  sending  out  another  army  in  place  of  that  which 
Louis  had  madly  thrown  away. 

The  boundaries  of  poor  young  Baldwin's  kingdom 
were  greatly  contracted.  Nothing  now  remained  but 
what  we  may  call  Palestine  proper,  with  a  dubious  and 
tottering  hold  on  a  few  outlying  towns.  Fifty  years 
had  been  sufficient  to  turn  the  sons  of  the  rough  and 
straightforward  soldiers  of  Godfrey,  whose  chief  fault 
seems  to  have  been  their  ungovernable  fits  of  rage,  into 
crafty  and  double-faced  Syrians,  slothful  and  sensual, 
careless  of  aught  but  their  own  interests,  and  brave  only 
when  glory,  to  which  they  still  clung,  could  be  got  out 
of  it.  Nor  was  the  kingdom  itself  free  from  discord 
and  variance.     Queen  Milicent  retained  her  authority, 


RESTRICTED  BOUNDARIES.  317 

nor  could  she  be  persuaded  to  give  it  up.  It  was  the 
most  monstrous  thing — it  shows,  however,  how  the 
feudal  ideas  had  become  corrupted — that  she  should 
insist  on  holding  part  of  the  realm  in  her  own  name. 
She  did  so,  however,  giving  Baldwin  Tyre  as  his  prin- 
cipal place,  and  retaining  Jerusalem  as  her  own.  She 
had  a  following  of  barons,  who  preferred,  for  many 
reasons,  to  be  under  the  rule  of  a  woman.  The  reins 
of  government  were  confided  to  her  own  cousin,  one 
Manasseh,  and  Baldwin  had  the  mortification  of  finding 
himself,  in  times  of  peace — few  enough,  it  is  true — only 
the  second  man  in  a  country  of  which  he  was  the 
nominal  king.  He  claimed  his  rights ;  these  were 
refused.  He  besieged  Manasseh  in  his  castle ;  he 
even  besieged  his  mother  in  hers.  The  patriarch 
acted  as  mediator,  and,  after  long  negotiations,  a  com- 
promise was  effected,  by  which  Milicent,  more  fortunate 
than  her  equally  ambitious  sister  Alice  of  Antioch, 
received  the  city  of  Nablous  to  hold  as  her  own  for  the 
rest  of  her  life. 

It  was  during  these  negotiations,  or  at  their  close, 
that  the  king  held  a  great  council  at  Tripoli  on  the 
state  of  the  kingdom.  And  it  was  while  the  council 
was  sitting  that  Count  Raymond  was  assassinated — no 
one  knew  at  whose  instigation,  because  the  murderers 
were  instantly  cut  to  pieces. 

The  Turks  made  an  attempt  upon  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem  itself,  and  while  the  knights  were  gone  to 
defend  Nablous,  they  encamped  on  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
Then  the  people  of  Jerusalem  went  out,  as  full  of 
courage  as  Gideon's  three  hundred,  and  drove  them  off 
with  great  slaughter.  Their  success — success  was  now 
so  rare — raised  the  spirits  of  all  the  Christians,  and  the 
king  resolved  to  follow  it  up  by  laying  siege  to  that  old 


318  JERUSALEM. 


enemy  of  Christendom,  Ascalon,  which  was  to  Jeru- 
salem even  as  the  mound  which  Diabolus  raised  up 
against  the  city  of  Mansoul  in  Bunyan's  allegory.  It 
was  in  1153  that  this  strong  place,  which  ought  to  have 
been  in  the  hands  of  the  Christians  fifty  years  before, 
had  it  not  been  for  Christian  jealousy  and  treachery, 
fell  at  last.  Baldwin  marched  against  it  with  all  the 
forces  he  could  command.  A  fleet  watched  the  port 
from  the  sea,  while  the  siege  was  hurried  on  by  land. 
Every  ship  that  brought  pilgrims  was  ordered  to  pro- 
ceed southwards,  and  the  pilgrims  were  pressed  into 
the  service.  Nevertheless,  the  work  went  on  slowly, 
and  after  more  than  four  months,  reinforcements  were 
received  from  Egypt,  and  the  besieged  were  as  con- 
fident as  ever.  Accident  gave  the  Christians  the  town. 
They  had  a  movable  tower,  higher  than  the  walls,  with 
which  they  were  able  to  annoy  the  enemy  almost  with 
impunity.  One  day,  when  it  was  laid  alongside  the 
wall,  the  besieged  threw  a  vast  quantity  of  wood,  on 
which  they  poured  oil  and  sulphur,  between  the  ram- 
parts and  the  town.  This  they  set  fire  to  ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately for  themselves,  without  first  considering  which 
way  the  wind  was  blowing.  It  was  a  strong  east  wind, 
and  the  flames  were  blown  towards  the  walls.  They 
blazed  all  day  and  all  night,  and  when  they  ceased,  at 
length,  the  stones  were  calcined,  and  that  portion  of 
the  wall  about  the  fire  fell  down.  The  Christians 
wanted  nothing  more.  At  daybreak  the  soldiers 
were  awakened  by  hearing  a  loud  crash,  and  rushed 
towards  the  spot.  They  were  too  late.  The  Templars 
were  already  crowding  in  at  the  breach,  and,  in 
order  to  get  all  the  plunder  for  themselves,  these  chivalrous 
knights  stationed  men  to  prevent  the  army  from  follow- 
ing them. 


TAKING  OF  A SCALON.  3 1 9 

4  Non  habet  eventus  sordida  ptaeda  bonos,' 

remarks  the  historian.  Their  cupidity  proved  the  death 
of  a  great  many  of  their  body,  for  they  were  too  few  to 
carry  everything  before  them,  as  they  had  hoped. 
Forty  Templars  perished  in  this  attack,  and  the  rest 
were  not  able  to  get  in  at  all,  for  the  people  drove  them 
back,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  fortified  the 
broken  wall  with  great  beams  of  timber;  and  then, 
safe  for  a  time  behind  their  rampart,  they  tied  ropes  to 
the  corpses  of  the  knights,  and  dangled  them  up  and 
down  outside  the  wall,  to  the  indignation  of  the  Chris- 
tians. After  deliberation,  confession,  and  a  grand 
mass,  a  general  assault  was  ordered,  and  for  a  whole 
day  hand-to-hand  fighting  was  carried  on.  And  then 
the  city  yielded,  and  obtained  fair  terms.  Provided 
they  evacuated  the  town  within  three  days,  their  lives 
were  to  be  spared.  And  at  last,  in  delusive  imitation  of 
the  glories  which  were  never  to  return  again  to  the 
Christian  arms,  the  standard  of  the  Cross  floated  from 
the  towers  of  Ascalon,  the  '  Bride  of  Syria.'  The  un- 
fortunate people,  with  their  wives  and  children,  made 
what  haste  they  could  to  get  ready,  and  in  two  days  had 
all  left  their  city,  carrying  with  them  all  their  portable 
goods.  The  king  honourably  kept  his  word  with  them, 
and  gave  them  guides  to  conduct  them  to  Egypt  across 
the  desert.  All  went  well  so  long  as  their  guides  were 
with  them.  But  these  left  them  after  a  time,  and  gave 
them  over  to  a  certain  Turk,  who  had  been  with  them  in 
Ascalon — '  valiant  in  war,  but  a  perverse  man,  and 
without  loyalty ' — on  his  promise  to  conduct  them 
safely  to  Egypt.  But  on  the  way  he  and  his  men  fell 
Dn  them,  robbed  them  of  all  their  treasures,  and  went 
away — whither,  history  sayeth  not — leaving  them  to 
wander  helplessly  up  and   down  the  desert.     And  so 


320  JERUSALEM. 


the  poor  creatures  all  perished.  It  is  a  pity  that  we 
cannot  ascertain  what  became  of  the  admirable  Turk 
who  knew  so  well  how  to  seize  an  opportunity. 

During  the  siege  of  Ascalon,  the  Lady  Constance  of 
Antioch,  whom  the  king  had  been  anxious  to  see 
married  for  a  long  time,  chose,  to  everybody's  astonish- 
ment, a  simple  knight,  one  Renaud  de  Chatillon,  as 
her  husband.  The  king,  anxious  above  all  that  a 
man  should  be  at  the  head  of  Antioch,  consented  at 
once,  and  Renaud,  of  whom  we  shall  have  more  to 
say,  wedded  the  fair  widow.  Although  the  king  ap- 
proved of  the  marriage,  it  appeared  that  the  Patriarch 
of  Antioch  did  not,  and  trusting  to  the  sacredness  of 
his  person  went  about  the  city  spreading  all  sorts  of 
stories  about  the  fortunate  young  bridegroom.  Renaud 
dissembled  his  resentment,  and  invited  him  to  the 
citadel,  and  then,  by  way  of  giving  the  reverend  bishop 
a  lesson  as  to  the  punishment  due  to  calumniators,  set 
him  in  the  sun  all  day,  with  his  bald  head  covered  with 
honey,  to  attract  the  wasps.  After  this  diabolical 
audacity,  as  William  of  Tyre  calls  it,  there  was  nothing 
left  for  the  patriarch  but  to  pack  up  and  get  away  to 
Jerusalem  as  fast  as  he  could.  The  king  reprimanded 
Renaud,  but  too  late,  for  the  mischief  was  done,  and 
the  head  of  the  prelate  already  painfully  stung. 

Internal  troubles  occupied  the  king  for  the  next  year 
or  two.  These  were  caused  by  the  quarrels  between 
the  two  military  orders  and  the  Church  of  Jerusalem. 
We  hear  only  one  side  of  the  story,  which  throws  the 
whole  blame  upon  the  knights.  Most  likely  the  clergy 
were  also  in  some  way  to  blame.  By  special  permission 
of  the  pope,  no  interdict  or  excommunication  could 
touch  the  Knights  of  St.  John  or  the  Knights  Templars. 
They  were  free    from    all    episcopal  jurisdiction,    and 


DISSENSION.  32i 


subject  only  to  the  pope.     It  pleased  Raymond,  Grand 
Master  of  the  Hospitallers,  for  no  reason  given  by  the 
chronicler,  to  raise  up  all  sorts  of  troubles  against  the 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  and  the  prelates  of  the  Church, 
on  the  subject  of  parochial  jurisdiction  and  the  tithes. 
The  way  they  showed  their  enmity  is  very  suggestive  of 
many  things.     '  All  those  whom  the  bishops  had  ex- 
communicated, or  interdicted,  were  freely  welcomed  by 
the  Hospitallers,  and  admitted  to  the  celebration  of  the 
divine  offices.     If  they  were  ill,  the  brothers  gave  them 
the  viaticum  and  extreme  unction,  and  those  who  died 
received    sepulture.       If    it    happened    that    for   some 
enormous  crime' — probably  the  withholding  of  tithes — 
1  the  churches  of  the  city  were  put  under  interdict,  the 
Hospitallers,  ringing  all  their  bells,  and  making  a  great 
clamouring,  called  the  people  to  their  own  chapels,  and 
received  the  oblations  themselves  ;  and  as  for  their  priests, 
they   took   them   without    any    reference    whatever    to 
the    bishops.'     Obviously,   therefore,    the    quarrel   was 
entirely  an  ecclesiastical  squabble,  due  to  the  desire  of 
the  Church  to  aggrandize  and  preserve  its  power.    The 
knights,  ecclesia  in  ecclesid,  a  church  within  a  church, 
would  not  recognise  in  any  way  the  authority  of  the 
patriarch.     For  this  they  had  a  special  charter  from  the 
pope.     And  they  would  not  pay  tithes,  and  they  were 
constantly  acquiring   new  territories.     We    may  have 
very   little    doubt   that  it   was    the    question   of  tithes 
on    the    knights1  lands  which  caused  all    the    quarrel. 
But  it  is  very  remarkable  to  note  the  way  in  which  the 
historian  speaks  of  interdicts  and  excommunications. 
In   the   West    an    interdict  was    a   great  and    solemn 
thing.     In  England  only  one  interdict,  at  the  memory 
of  which  the  people  shuddered  for  many  years  to  come, 
was  ever  laid  upon  the  country,  while,  though  English 

21 


322  JERUSALEM. 


kings  have  been  excommunicated,  it  has  happened 
rarely.  In  Palestine  the  custom  of  debarring  offenders, 
whether  towns  or  individuals,  from  the  privileges  of  the 
Church  is  spoken  of  as  quite  a  common  practice.  The 
thing,  evidently,  was  often  happening.  The  patriarch 
was  handy  with  his  interdicts,  and  it  must  have  galled 
him  to  the  very  soul  to  find  that  the  people  cared 
nothing  for  them,  because  they  could  get  their  consola- 
tions of  the  Church  just  as  well  from  the  knights. 

One  cannot,  however,  defend  the  manner  in  which 
the  knights  vexed  the  heart  of  the  patriarch  in  other 
ways.  For  whenever  he  went  to  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  the  knights,  who  had  a  great  building 
opposite  (in  what  is  now  called  the  Muristan),  began  to 
ring  all  their  bells  at  once,  and  made  so  great  a  noise 
that  he  could  not  be  heard.  And  once,  though  one  can 
hardly  believe  this,  they  went  to  the  doors  of  the 
church  and  shot  arrows  at  the  people  who  were  praying. 
Probably  they  pretended  to  shoot  them  in  order  to 
frighten  the  priest.  Such  a  practical  joke,  and  its  effect 
in  the  skurrying  away  of  people  and  priests,  would 
be  quite  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

The  patriarch,  though  now  nearly  a  hundred  years  of 
age,  went  himself  to  Rome,  but  got  no  satisfaction. 
He  had  with  him  six  bishops  and  a  band  of  lawyers  to 
plead  his  cause;  but  he  was  badly  received  by  the  pope 
and  badly  treated  by  the  cardinals.  And  after  being 
put  off  from  day  to  day,  finding  that  he  could  get  no 
redress,  he  retired  in  shame  and  confusion,  and  probably 
patched  up  some  sort  of  peace  with  his  enemies 
the  knights. 

And  now  followed  a  sort  of  lull  before  the  storm, 
three  or  four  years  of  actual  peace  and  internal  pros- 
perity.    Renaud  de    Chatillon  disgraced  the    cause  of 


BALDWIN'S  CRIME.  323 

Christianity  by  an  unprovoked  attack  upon  the  Isle 
of  Cyprus,  which  he  overran  from  end  to  end,  murder- 
ing, pillaging,  and  committing  every  kind  of  outrage. 
Nur-ed-din  made  himself  master  of  Damascus,  an 
event  which  more  than  counterbalanced  the  loss  of 
Ascalon.  And  Baldwin  committed  the  only  crime 
which  history  can  allege  against  him.  For  he  had 
given  permission  to  certain  Turcomans  and  Arabs  to 
feed  their  cattle  on  the  slopes  of  Libanus.  Here,  for  a 
time,  they  lived  peaceably,  harming  none  and  being 
harmed  by  none.  But  the  king  was  loaded  with  debts 
which  he  could  not  pay.  Someone  in  an  evil  hour 
suggested  to  him  an  attack  upon  this  pastoral  people. 
It  is  the  story  of  Laish  over  again ;  the  poor  herds- 
men lived  quiet  and  secure,  thinking  of  no  danger. 
Taking  with  him  a  few  knights,  the  king  went  himself 
and  overran  the  country  sword  in  hand.  Some  of  the 
people  escaped  by  flight,  leaving  their  flocks  and  herds 
behind ;  some  buried  themselves  in  the  forests  ;  some 
were  made  slaves ;  and  some  were  mercilessly 
slaughtered.  The  booty  in  cattle  and  horses  was 
immense,  and  Baldwin  found,  by  this  act  of  iniquity, 
a  means  of  paying  off,  at  least,  the  most  pressing  of 
his  creditors.  But  his  subsequent  misfortunes  were 
attributed  to  this  dreadful  act  of  perfidy,  the  worst 
which  a  Christian  King  of  Jerusalem  had  as  yet  dis- 
played. 

Nur-ed-din  laid  siege  to  the  castle  of  Banias,  into 
which  Count  Humphrey  had  introduced  the  knights  of 
St.  John  on  conditions  of  their  sharing  in  the  defence. 
Baldwin  went  to  its  assistance.  Nur-ed-din  raised  the 
siege  and  retired.  The  king,  seeing  no  use  in  staying 
any  longer,  began  his  southward  march.  They  en- 
camped the  first  night  near  the  lake  Huleh,  where  they 

21 — 2 


324  JERUSALEM. 


lay  without  proper  guards,  believing  the  enemy  to  be 
far  enough  away.  The  king's  own  bodyguard  had  left 
him,  and  some  of  the  barons  had  left  the  army 
altogether,  followed  by  their  own  men.  In  the  morning 
the  enemy  fell  upon  them  all  straggling  about  the 
country.  Baldwin  retreated  to  a  hilltop  with  half  a 
dozen  men,  and  gained  in  safety  the  fortress  of  Safed. 
And  then  the  historian  adds  a  sentence  which  shows 
how  utterly  rotten  and  corrupt  was  this  kingdom, 
founded  by  the  brave  arms  of  Godfrey  and  his  knights. 
*  There  was  very  little  slaughter,  because  everybody, 
not  only  those  who  were  renowned  for  their  wisdom 
and  their  experience  in  war,  but  also  the  simple 
soldiers,  eager  to  save  their  miserable  lives,  gave 
themselves  up  without  resistance  to  the  enemy  like 
vile  slaves,  feeling  no  horror  for  a  shameful  servitude, 
and  not  dreading  the  ignominy  which  attaches  to  this 
conduct.' 

Is  it  possible  to  imagine  a  knight  of  the  First 
Crusade,  or  even  a  simple  soldier,  preferring  to 
surrender  at  once  than  to  risk  the  chance  of  life  in 
the  battle  ?  And  when  the  news  came  south,  which 
happened  soon  enough,  instead  of  flying  to  arms,  the 
men  flew  to  the  altars,  chanting  the  psalm,  '  Domine, 
salvum  fac  regem.' 

Fortunately  one  of  the  little  crusades,  consisting 
of  a  fleet  and  a  few  thousand  men,  arrived  at  this 
juncture,  headed  by  Stephen,  Count  of  Perche.  Baldwin 
welcomed  them  with  delight,  and  made  the  best  use  of 
them,  defeated  by  their  help  the  Saracens  at  every 
point  in  the  county  of  Tripoli  and  the  principality  of 
Antioch,  aad  lastly  gave  the  Damascenes  the  most 
complete  defeat  they  had  ever  experienced.  It  must 
always  be  remembered  that  it  was  by  such  windfalls 


DEATH  OF  MI  LI  CENT.  325 

and  adventitious  aids  as  these  that  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem  was  maintained.  The  pilgrims  who  came  to 
pray  fought  in  the  intervals  of  prayer  ;  a  small  per- 
centage of  them  always  remained  in  the  country  and 
attached  themselves  to  the  fortunes  of  king  or  baron. 
When  the  influx  of  pilgrims  was  great,  the  new  blood 
kept  up  the  stamina,  physical  as  well  as  moral,  of  the 
Syrian  Christians  ;  when  the  influx  was  small  the  king 
had  to  depend  upon  the  pidlani,  the  Syrians  born,  the 
Creoles  of  the  country,  who  were  weedy,  false,  and 
cowardly  like  those  knights  and  soldiers  who  sur- 
rendered, rather  than  strike  a  blow  for  their  lives,  to 
Nur-ed-din. 

In  1160  died  Queen  Milicent.  Against  her  moral 
character,  since  the  scandal  about  Hugh  of  Jaffa,  no 
word  had  been  breathed.  But  she  was  ambitious, 
crafty,  and  intriguing,  like  her  sisters,  not  one  of  whom 
lived  happily  with  her  husband.  She  founded  a  convent 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  in  return  for  which  the  eccle- 
siastical biographers,  as  is  their  wont,  are  loud  in  their 
praises  of  her.  Her  youngest  sister  was  made  its  first 
abbess.  She  died  of  some  mysterious  malady,  for 
which  no  cure  could  be  found.  Her  memory  failed, 
and  her  limbs  were  already  long  dead  when  she 
breathed  her  last.  No  one  was  allowed  to  go  into  the 
room  where  she  lay  save  a  very  few,  including  her  two 
sisters,  the  Countess  of  Tripoli,  widow  of  Raymond, 
and  the  Abbess  of  Saint  Lazarus  of  Bethany.  Probably 
the  disease  she  suffered  from  was  that  which  broke  out 
in  her  grandson,  Baldwin  IV.,  leprosy.  The  year  before 
her  death  the  king  had  contracted  a  splendid  marriage, 
advantageous  from  every  point  of  view.  He  married 
Theodora,  niece  to  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople. 
The  new  queen  was  only  thirteen  :  she  was  singularly 


326  JERUSALEM. 


beautiful,  and  brought,  which  was  of  more  importance, 
a  large  dowry  in  ready  money.  Baldwin  was  passion- 
ately fond  of  his  young  bride,  and  from  the  moment  of 
his  marriage  gave  up  all  those  follies  of  which  he  had 
been  guilty  before.  But  he  had  a  very  short  period  of 
this  new  and  better  life.  Renaud  de  Chatillon,  who 
had  made  his  peace  with  the  emperor,  by  means  of  the 
most  abject  and  humiliating  submissions,  got  into 
trouble  again,  and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Moham- 
medans. Baldwin,  affairs  in  the  north  falling  into  con- 
fusion in  consequence  of  this  accident,  went  to  aid  in 
driving  back  the  enemy.  Here  he  was  seized  with 
dysentery  and  fever,  diseases  common  enough  in  the 
Syrian  climate.  His  physician,  one  Barak,  an  Arab, 
gave  him  pills,  of  which  he  was  to  take  some  immedi- 
ately, the  rest  by  degrees.  But  the  pills  did  not  help 
him,  and  he  grew  worse  and  worse.  They  said  he  was 
poisoned.  Some  of  the  pills  were  given  to  a  dog, 
which  died  after  taking  them — the  story,  is,  however, 
only  told  from  hearsay,  and  is  probably  false.  He  was 
brought  to  Beyrout,  where  he  languished  for  a  few 
days  and  then  died,  in  his  thirty-third  year,  leaving  no 
children. 

Great  was  the  mourning  of  the  people.  Other  kings 
had  been  more  powerful  in  war  ;  none  had  been  braver. 
Other  kings  had  been  more  successful;  none  had  so  well 
deserved  success.  And  while  his  predecessors,  one  and 
all,  were  strangers  in  the  land,  Baldwin  III.  was  born 
and  brought  up  among  them  all ;  he  knew  them  all  by 
name,  and  was  courteous  and  affable  to  all.  In  those 
degenerate  days  he  was  almost  the  only  man  in  the 
kingdom  whose  word  could  be  trusted  ;  moreover,  he 
was  young,  handsome,  bright,  and  generous.  The  only 
faults  he  had  were  faults  common  to  youth,  while  from 


DEATH  OF  BALDWIN.  327 

those  which  most  degrade  a  man  in  other  men's  eyes, 
gluttony  and  intemperance,  he  was  entirely  free.  Even 
the  Saracens  loved  this  free-handed  chivalrous  prince, 
and  mourned  for  him.  When  someone  proposed  to 
Nur-ed-din  to  take  advantage  of  the  confusion  in  the 
country  and  invade  it,  he  refused,  with  that  stately 
courtesy  which  distinguished  even  the  least  of  the 
Saracen  princes.  '  Let  us/  said  he,  '  have  compassion 
and  indulgence  for  a  grief  so  just,  since  the  Christians 
have  lost  a  prince  so  great  that  the  world  possesses  not 
his  equal.' 

The  wiseacres  remembered  how,  when  he  stood  god- 
father to  his  brother's  infant  son,  he  gave  him  his  own 
name,  and  on  being  asked  what  else  he  would  give  him, 
'  I  will  give  him,'  said  the  king,  with  his  ready  laugh — 
it  was  his  laugh  which  the  people  loved — '  I  will  give 
him  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.'  The  gossips  had 
shaken  their  heads  over  words  so  ominous,  and  now, 
with  that  melancholy  pleasure,  in  itself  a  consolation, 
which  comes  of  finding  your  own  prognostications 
of  evil  correct,  they  recalled  the  words  of  fate  and 
strengthened  themselves  in  their  superstition. 

Ill-omened  or  not,  the  words  had  come  true.  Bald- 
win was  dead,  his  brother  was  to  succeed  him,  and  his 
nephew  was  to  come  after.  And  henceforth  the  days 
of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  are  few  and  full  of 
trouble. 

The  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  like  a  Roman  colony, 
was  founded  by  men  alone.  Those  women  who  came 
with  the  Crusaders  either  died  on  the  way,  unable  to 
endure  the  fatigue,  heat,  and  misery  of  the  march,  or 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  in  whose  harems 
they  were  placed.  The  Crusaders  therefore  had  to  find 
wives  for  themselves  in  the  country.     They  took  them 


328  JERUSALEM. 


from  the  Syrian  Christians  or  the  Armenians,  occasion- 
ally, too,  from  the  Saracen  women  who  were  willing  to 
be  baptized.  Their  children,  subjected  to  the  enervat- 
ing influences  of  the  climate,  and  imbibing  the  Oriental 
ideas  of  their  mothers,  generally  preserved  some  of  the 
courage  of  their  fathers  for  the  next  generation,  when 
they  lost  it  and  became  wholly  cowardly  and  sensual 
and  treacherous.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  kingdom 
was  always  being  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  new 
knights  and  men-at-arms,  so  that  for  all  practical 
purposes  it  was  a  kingdom  of  the  West  transplanted 
to  the  East.  All  the  manners  and  customs  were 
purely  European.  Falconry  and  hunting  were  the 
most  favourite  sports.  They  amused  the  Saracens, 
when  they  came  to  have  friendly  relations  with  them, 
by  tournaments  and  riding  at  the  quintain.  In- 
doors they  beguiled  the  time  which  was  not  taken  up 
by  eating,  drinking,  or  religious  services,  in  chess, 
dicing,  and  games  of  chance.  They  were  all  great 
gamblers,  and  forgot  in  the  chances  of  the  dice  all 
their  misfortunes  and  anxieties.  Those  who  were  rich 
enough  entertained  minstrels,  and  had  readers  to  read 
them  the  lives  of  illustrious  warriors  and  kings.  Later 
on — but  this  was  always  done  with  the  greatest  secrecy, 
even  by  Frederick  II.,  who  cared  little  enough  what 
was  said  of  him — they  learned  to  admire  the  perfor- 
mances of  dancing-girls.  Richard  of  Cornwall  was  so 
delighted  with  their  voluptuous  dances  that  he  carried 
a  number  of  them  to  England.  As  for  their  manner 
of  living,  it  was  coarse  and  gross.  They  brought  their 
Western  appetites  to  the  East,  and,  ignorant  of  the 
necessity  of  light  food  and  temperance  in  a  hot  climate, 
they  made  huge  meals  of  meat  and  drank  vast  quan- 
tities of  wine.     This  was  probably  the  main  cause  of 


MANNERS  OF  CRUSADERS.  329 

their  ungovernable  temper,  and  the  sudden  outbursts 
of  rage  which  sometimes  made  them  commit  acts  of 
such  extraordinary  folly.  And  this  was  most  certainly 
the  cause  why  they  all  died  young.  And  though  they 
adopted  every  other  Oriental  habit  readily — Oriental 
voluptuousness,  Oriental  magnificence,  Oriental  dress 
— they  never  learned  the  truth  that  Mohammed  en- 
forced so  rigidly,  that,  to  preserve  life  we  must  be 
temperate.  Fever  destroyed  them,  and  leprosy,  that 
most  miserable  of  all  diseases,  crept  into  their  blood, 
possibly,  as  they  thought  themselves,  through  the 
eating  of  pork,  of  which  they  were  inordinately  fond. 

For  the  rest,  they  swore  enormous  oaths,  vying  with 
each  other  in  finding  strange  and  startling  expressions ; 
they  were  always  rebelling  against  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  and  always  ready  to  be  terrified  by  the  threats 
of  the  priests  and  to  repent  with  tears.  In  religion 
they  exercised  a  sort  of  fetish  worship.  For  it  was  no 
matter  what  odds  were  against  them  so  long  as  the  wood 
of  the  True  Cross  was  with  them ;  it  mattered  little 
what  manner  of  lives  they  led  so  long  as  a  priest  would 
absolve  them  ;  there  was  no  sin  which  could  not  be 
expiated  by  the  slaughter  of  the  Mohammedans.  Every 
Crusader  had  a  right  to  heaven ;  this,  whatever  else  it 
was,  was  an  escape  from  the  fires  of  hell.  The  devil, 
who  was  always  roaming  up  and  down  the  world,  ap- 
pearing now  in  one  form  and  now  in  another,  had  no 
power  over  a  soldier  of  the  Cross.  Everybody,  for 
instance,  knows  the  story  of  the  Picard  knight.  He 
had  made  a  bargain  with  the  devil,  to  get  revenge — 
this  obtained,  he  could  not  get  rid  of  his  infernal  ally. 
He  took  the  Cross,  and  the  devil  ceased  to  torment 
him.  But  when  Jerusalem  was  taken,  and  he  returned 
home,  he  found  the  devil  there  already,  awaiting  him 


33o 


JERUSALEM. 


r& 


jj^B^n 


MANNERS  OF  CRUSADERS.  331 

in  his  own  castle.  Therefore  he  took  the  Cross  again, 
went  outre  mer,  stayed  there,  and  was  no  more  troubled. 
And  every  Crusader  was  ready  to  swear  that  he  had 
never  himself  met  any  other  devil  than  the  black 
Ethiopians  of  the  Egyptian  army.  The  saints,  on  the 
other  hand,  frequently  appeared,  as  we  have  seen. 

Such,  in  a  few  words,  were  the  manners  of  the 
Christians  over  whom  ruled  Baldwin  III.  ;  an  unruly, 
ungodly  set,  superstitious  to  their  fingers'  ends,  and  only 
redeemed  from  savagery  by  loyalty  to  their  chiefs,  by 
the  dauntless  courage  in  battle  shown  by  those  fresh  from 
Europe,  and  by  whatever  little  gleams  of  light  may  have 
shone  upon  them  through  the  chinks  and  joints  of  the 
iron  armour  with  which  they  had  covered,  so  to  speak, 
and  hidden  the  fair  and  shining  limbs  of  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

KING    AMAURY.      A.D.  Il62 — 1173- 

'  I  had  thought  I  had  had  men  of  some  understanding 
And  wisdom,  of  my  council  ;  but  I  find  none.' 

Henry  VIII. 

At  the  death  of  King  Baldwin  the  personal  unpopu- 
larity of  his  brother  among  the  barons  caused  at.  first 
some  hesitation  as  to  his  election,  but  this  was  over- 
ruled by  the  influence  of  the  clergy,  and  Amaury  was 
duly  crowned  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
He  was  at  the  time  of  his  succession  to  the  crown 
twenty-seven  years  of  age.  He  had  been  named  by 
his  brother  first  Count  of  Jaffa,  and  afterwards,  when 
the  place  was  taken,  Count  of  Ascalon.  He  was  a 
man  somewhat  above  the  middle  height ;  like  his 
brother,  he  had  an  aquiline  nose,  brown  hair  falling 
back  from  his  forehead,  and  would  have  been  as  hand- 
some as  Baldwin  but  for  his  premature  corpulence. 
He  was  inordinately  fat,  in  spite  of  extreme  temperance 
in  eating  and  drinking.  As  for  his  faults,  they  were 
many.  He  was  morose  and  taciturn,  rarely  speaking 
to  anyone,  and  never  showing  any  desire  to  cultivate 
friendships;  he  was  avaricious,  always  trying  to  accu- 
mulate treasure,  a  habit  which  he  defended,  honestly 
enough,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  the  duty  of  a  king  to 
provide  for  emergencies,  a  duty  which  he  was  the  first 
King  of  Jerusalem  to  recognise.     At  the  same  time  he 


KING  AMAURY.  333 


was  always  ready  with  his  money  in  cases  of  necessity. 
He  seldom  laughed,  and  when  he  did,  he  seemed  to 
laugh  all  over,  in  a  manner  as  undignified  as  it  was  un- 
graceful.     He  had,    too,   a  slight    impediment    in    his 
speech,  which  prevented  him  from  speaking  freely,  and 
was  probably  the  main  cause  of  his  taciturnity.     He 
was  unchaste,  and  made  no  secret  of  his  incontinence. 
He  was  a  violent  enemy  of  what  his  biographer  calls 
the  liberty  of  the  Church — in  other  wrords,  he  insisted 
on  the  property  of  the  Church  bearing  the  burden  of 
taxation  equally  with  all  other  property.     He  had  little 
education,  but  loved  reading,  especially  the  reading  of 
history,  and  was  fond  of  asking  questions  on  curious 
and     recondite    subjects.      Thus,     he     once     startled 
William  of  Tyre  by  asking  him  if  there  was  any  proof, 
apart  from  revelation,  of  the  doctrine  of  a  future  world. 
The  priest  proved  to  him,  by  the  Socratic  method,  he 
says,   that  there    was ;  but  he    confesses  that    he  was 
greatly  exercised  in  spirit  at  the  king's  asking  such  a 
question.    He  was  well  versed  in  all  questions  of  law,  and 
in  military  matters  was  generally  a  prudent  leader,  and 
always  patient  of  fatigue  and  suffering.     '  Being  so  fat/ 
we  are  told, '  the  rigours  of  cold  and  heat  did  not  trouble 
him  ' — a  very  odd  result  of  corpulence.     He  obeyed  all 
the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  and  showed  his  magna- 
nimity by  never  taking  the  least  notice  of  things  said 
in   his  disfavour,    when    they  were  reported    to    him. 
He  loved  not  dice  or  gambling,  and  had,  indeed,  but 
one  sport  of  which  he  was  really  fond,  that  of  falconry. 
Evidently  a  gloomy  kind  of  prince,  with  his  mind  over- 
whelmed   by    all    sorts    of    doubts    and    questions    of 
morality    and    religion,    perplexed    by   the    cares    and 
anxieties  of  his  position,  void  of  enthusiasm   for  the 
crown  which  he  wore,  but  resolute  to  do  the  best  he 


, 


334  JERUSALEM. 


could  for  his  kingdom  ;  more  prudent  and  far-seeing 
than  any  who  had  preceded  him,  but  without  the  dash 
and  vigour  of  his  ancestors  ;  slow  of  thought,  and  con- 
sequently liable  to  ill-success  for  want  of  promptness  ; 
a  man  something  like  our  William  III. :  one  who  had  a 
few  friends  who  admired  and  respected  him,  but  who,  to 
the  many,  was  unpopular  and  distasteful. 

He  had  married  Agnes,  the  daughter  of  Jocelyn  the 
younger,  by  whom  he  had  three  children,  Baldwin,  after- 
wards king,  Sybille,  and  Isabelle.  On  his  accession  it 
was  discovered — one  wonders  why  the  Church  had  not 
interfered  earlier — that  the  marriage  was  unlawful, 
because  his  own  and  his  wife's  grandfathers,  Baldwin  du 
Bourg,  and  Jocelyn  the  elder,  had  been  first  cousins. 
He  was  therefore  compelled  to  get  a  divorce  from 
Agnes,  who  married  again,  first  Hugh  of  Ibelin,  a 
gallant  fighting  man,  and  afterwards  Renaud  of  Sidon, 
also  a  marriage  within  the  limits,  only  this  time 
the  Church  did  not  think  proper  to  interpose  her 
authority. 

Like  all  the  Kings  of  Jerusalem,  Amaury  began  his 
reign  with  an  expedition,  by  way  of  winning  the  spurs 
of  gallantry.  The  Egyptians — the  Fatemite  dynasty 
being  now  in  its  last  stage  of  decay — failed  to  pay  the 
tribute  which  had  been  agreed  upon  after  the  taking  of 
Ascalon.  Amaury  led  an  army  to  Pelusium,  which  he 
took  and  plundered,  and  returned  home  laden  with 
spoils  and  glory. 

The  Fatemite  Caliphs,  degenerate  now,  and  sunk  in 
sloth,  left  the  whole  government  of  their  rich  empire  to 
their  viziers,  who  had  taken  the  title  of  sultan. 
Dhargam,  the  vizier  at  this  time,  had  a  powerful  rival 
named  Shawer,  whom  he  managed  to  turn  out  of  his 
government    and   banish  from  the  kingdom.     Shawer 


DHARGAM.  335 


repaired  to  Damascus,  and  representing  to  Nur-ed-din 
the  weakened  state  of  the  kingdom,  urged  him  to  send 
an  army  which  should  in  the  first  instance  place  himself 
in  the  seat  of  Dhargam,  and  in  the  next  make  Egypt  a 
sort  of  appanage  to  Damascus.  The  project  was 
tempting.  If  Egypt  could  be  made  even  an  ally  of 
Damascus,  or  more  properly  speaking,  of  Baghdad,  to 
which  Caliphate  Nur-ed-din  belonged,  the  way  was 
clear  for  united  action  against  the  Christian  kingdom 
on  three  sides  at  once.  Nur-ed-din  did  not  hesitate 
long.  Deputing  his  ablest  general,  Shirkoh,  to  lead  his 
forces,  he  despatched  a  formidable  army  to  Egypt, 
to  support  the  rebellious  claims  of  Shawer.  But 
Dhargam  in  his  turn  was  not  idle.  He  sent  messengers 
to  King  Amaury,  offering  conditions,  almost  any  which 
the  king  might  dictate,  in  return  for  assistance.  But 
while  the  negotiations  were  pending,  and  Amaury  was 
making  up  his  mind  how  to  act,  Shirkoh  and  his  army 
were  already  in  Egypt.  Dhargam  led  his  troops  to 
meet  the  enemy,  and  in  a  first  engagement  entirely 
routed  the  Syrians.  The  next  day,  however,  these 
rallied,  and  the  unfortunate  Dhargam  was  killed  by 
a  chance  arrow  in  the  battle.  Shawer  entered  into  Cairo 
in  triumph,  killed  all  Dhargam's  relations — a  summary 
and  efficacious  way  of  preventing  any  possible  future 
claims  on  the  part  of  his  descendants — and  allowed 
Shirkoh  to  establish  himself  in  Pelusium,  where  the 
Syrians  settled  down,  and  refused  either  to  quit  the 
kingdom,  or  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  caliph. 
Shawer  found  himself  thus  in  the  position  of  one  seek- 
ing to  be  delivered  from  his  friends,  and  saw  no  way  of 
escape  but  by  the  intervention  of  the  Christians.  He 
sent  ambassadors  to  Amaury,  making  overtures  similar 
to  those  proposed  by  his  late  rival,  even  offering  greater 


336  JERUSALEM. 


advantages  if  the  previous  terms  were  not  sufficiently 
liberal ;  but  Amaury  accepted  them,  and  marched  with 
all  his  forces  into  Egypt.  These  allied  forces  of  Shawer 
and  Amaury  besieged  Shirkoh  in  Pelusium,  but  were  not 
strong  enough  to  get  more  than  a  conditional  surrender, 
the  Syrian  general  being  allowed  to  depart  with  all  the 
honours  of  war,  and  to  return  to  Damascus.  And  at 
the  same  time  Nur-ed-din  received  a  defeat  near  Tripoli, 
which  raised  the  spirit  of  the  Christians  to  the  highest 
point.  Next  year,  however,  he  avenged  himself  by 
defeating  young  Bohemond  of  Antioch,  Raymond  of 
Tripoli,  the  Greek  governor  of  Cilicia,  and  the  Armenian 
prince  Toros.  It  was  a  shameful  rout.  *  No  one 
bethought  him  of  his  former  courage,  or  of  the  deeds 
of  his  ancestors  ;  no  one  sought  to  avenge  the  insults  of 
the  enemy,  or  to  fight  gloriously  for  the  liberty  and 
honour  of  his  country.  Each,  on  the  other  hand, 
hastening  tc  throw  away  his  arms,  endeavoured  by 
indecent  supplications  to  preserve  a  life  which  it  would 
have  been  a  thousand  times  better  to  sacrifice  by 
fighting  valiantly  for  his  country.  Toros  the  Armenian 
got  away  by  flight  :  Bohemond  and  the  rest  were  all 
taken  prisoners,  while  they  were  shamefully  running 
away.'  In  the  midst  of  the  consternation  produced  by 
this  disaster,  Thierry,  Count  of  Flanders,  who  seems  to 
have  been  continually  coming  into  the  country  like  a 
Dens  ex  machina  in  the  midst  of  calamities,  arrived  oppor- 
tunely with  a  small  following  of  knights.  He  could  not, 
however,  prevent  Nur-ed-din  from  taking  the  Castle  of 
Banias,  which  in  the  absence  of  its  seigneur,  Humphrey, 
who  was  away  in  Egypt,  had  been  consigned  to  the 
care  of  one  Walter  of  Quesnet.  Walter  gave  up  the 
place,  which  he  was  too  weak  to  defend,  and  in 
these  degraded  times  was  of  course  accused  of  having 


CONTINUED  REVERSES.  337 

received  bribes  for  the  purpose  from  Nur-ed-din.     Per- 
haps he  did. 

The  king  came  back  glorious  with  his  Egyptian 
exploit,  only  to  hear  of  these  reverses,  and  to  march 
north  in  hopes  of  repairing  them.  He  could  do  no  more 
than  place  the  best  men  he  had  in  the  fortresses,  while 
Shirkoh  gained  possession  of  a  stronghold  named  the 
Grotto  of  Tyre,  by  treachery,  as  was  alleged — at  least 
the  Christian  governor  was  hanged  for  it  at  Sidon. 
The  fortress  of  Montreal,  in  Moab,  fell  at  the  same 
time,  and  the  king  was  so  indignant  that  he  hung  up 
twelve  of  the  Templars  who  had  been  among  the 
besieged,  and  had  consented  to  its  capitulation. 
Nothing  can  explain  the  continual  reverses  of  the 
Christians  at  the  time  except  the  fact  of  their  degenera- 
tion and  cowardice,  and  the  dwindling  away  of  that  full 
stream  of  pilgrim  soldiers  who  had  formerly  flocked 
yearly  to  the  East.  The  second  Crusade,  indeed,  was 
productive  of  the  greatest  harm  in  this  respect  to  the 
Christian  kingdom.  It  drained  the  West  of  all  the 
men  who  wished  to  become  pilgrims  ;  and  the  fact  that 
so  few  returned  deterred  effectually  those  who  would 
otherwise  have  wished  to  go.  Other  causes,  of 
course,  were  at  work.  Of  these,  the  chief  were  the 
crusades  against  the  Moors  in  Spain  and  the  Pagans 
in  Germany,  and  the  development  of  pilgrimages  to 
local  shrines  and  saints.  It  was  much  easier  and 
a  great  deal  pleasanter,  though  not  so  glorious,  to  ride 
across  a  friendly  country  to  a  saint  not  many  hundreds 
of  miles  away,  than  to  journey  in  peril  and  priva- 
tion along  the  long  and  weary  road  which  led  to 
Jerusalem. 

But  there  was  now  a  lull  in  the  incursions  of  Nur-ed- 
din.     He  and  Shirkoh  had  other  and  vaster  projects  on 

22 


338  JERUSALEM. 


hand.  They  sent  to  the  caliph  at  Baghdad,  and  pointed 
out  the  manifest  advantages  which  would  accrue  from 
the  extinction  of  the  Fatemite  power,  the  union  of  both 
caliphates  into  one,  and  the  possession  of  a  country  so 
rich  and  so  fertile  as  Egypt,  the  people  of  which  were 
enervated  by  pleasure  and  luxury,  and  absolutely  un- 
fitted for  any  kind  of  resistance.  The  caliph  listened. 
Surrounded  as  he  was  by  every  luxury  that  the  heart  of 
man  could  desire,  it  mattered  little  to  him  whether 
another  rich  country  was  added  to  his  nominal  rule  or 
not.  But  it  mattered  greatly  that  the  divided  allegiance 
of  Islam  should  be  made  to  run  again  in  one  stream,  and 
he  consented  to  give  all  his  influence  provided  the  war 
were  made  a  religious  war.  To  this  Nur-ed-din  and 
his  general  eagerly  assented,  and  the  caliph  wrote 
to  all  the  princes  who  owned  his  sway,  commanding 
them  to  assist  Shirkoh  in  his  intended  invasion  of 
Egypt. 

Amaury  possessed  prudence  enough  to  know  that  if 
the  Syrians  conquered  Egypt  his  own  position  would  be 
far  worse  than  before  ;  and  he  collected  his  forces  and 
marched  southwards,  in  hopes  of  intercepting  the  Syrian 
army  in  the  desert.  He  missed  them  ;  but  Shawer,  full 
of  admiration  for  the  good  faith  which  seemed  to  him 
to  have  actuated  the  Christians,  welcomed  them  with 
every  demonstration  of  gratitude  when  they  arrived  in 
Egypt,  and  placed,  to  use  the  phrase  of  the  historian 
all  the  treasures  of  the  country  at  their  disposal. 
Amaury  established  his  camp  near  Cairo,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  and  then  held  counsel  what  next  to  do.  He  de 
termined  to  make  another  attempt  to  intercept  Shirkoh, 
and  though  he  again  missed  the  main  army,  he  came 
upon  a  small  rear-guard,  which  he  either  killed  or  made 
prisoners.     From  the  prisoners  he  learned  that  a  great 


1 


THE  CALIPH.  339 


disaster  had  befallen  the  Turks  on  their  way  across  the 
desert.  South  of  Moab  there  had  arisen  a  frightful 
storm  and  whirlwind,  in  which  the  sand  was  driven 
about  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  To  escape  it,  the 
troops  dismounted  and  crouched  behind  the  beasts, 
covering  their  faces  ;  they  lost  all  their  camels,  most  of 
their  provisions,  and  a  vast  number  of  their  men. 
Amaury  came  back  again  in  good  spirits  at  this  intelli- 
gence, and  thinking  of  returning  home  again,  the 
tempest  having  done  the  work  of  his  own  sword.  But 
he  overrated  the  power  of  the  Egyptians,  and  Shawer, 
knowing  how  utterly  unable  his  own  forces  were  to  cope 
with  those  of  Shirkoh,  shattered  though  these  were, 
implored  the  king  to  remain  in  Egypt  and  help  him  to 
drive  off  the  invader.  He  undertook  to  give  the 
Christians  a  sum  of  four  hundred  thousand  gold  pieces, 
half  to  be  paid  on  the  spot,  half  when  the  work  was 
done,  provided  that  the  king  undertook  not  to  leave 
Egypt  till  the  enemy  had  been  driven  out.  The  terms 
were  agreed  to  ;  the  king  gave  his  right  hand  in  token 
of  fidelity,  and  sent  Hugh  of  Caesarea,  accompanied 
by  a  Templar  named  Foucher,  to  receive  the  personal 
promise  of  the  great  and  mysterious  caliph  himself, 
whom  no  one  had  yet  seen. 

The  two  knights,  with  Shawer,  proceeded  to  the 
palace.  They'  were  preceded  by  a  number  of  trum- 
peters and  swordsmen,  and  led  through  dark  passages 
where  gates,  at  each  of  which  were  Ethiopian  guards, 
^  continually  barred  the  way.  Having  passed  through 
these,  they  found  themselves  in  an  open  place,  sur- 
rounded by  galleries  with  marble  columns,  with  panels 
of  gold,  and  pavements  of  curious  mosaic.  There,  too, 
were  basins  of  marble  filled  with  pure  and  sparkling 
water ;  the  cries  and  calls  of  birds  unknown  to  Euro- 

22 — 2 


34o  JERUSALEM. 


peans,  of  strange  shape  and  glorious  plumage,  saluted 
their  ears ;  and  going  farther  on  they  found  themselves 
in  a  menagerie  of  strange  beasts,  '  such  as  the  painter 
might  imagine,  or  the  poet,  with  his  lying  license, 
might  invent,  or  the  imagination  of  a  sleeper  Could 
fancy  in  dreams  of  the  night.' 

Passing  on  still  through  more  corridors,  and  along 
other  passages,  they  arrived  at  last  in  the  palace  itself, 
where  were  armed  men,  and  guards  whose  arms  and 
martial  bearing  proclaimed  the  power,  even  as  the 
splendour  of  the  place  proclaimed  the  wealth,  of  the 
sovereign  who  owned  it.  They  were  shown  into  an 
apartment  one  end  of  which  was  hidden  by  curtains, 
embroidered  with  gold  and  precious  stones.  Before 
the  curtain  Shawer,  the  sultan,  prostrated  himself 
twice,  and  then  took  the  sword  which  hung  from  his 
neck  and  humbly  laid  it  on  the  ground.  At  that 
moment  the  curtains  drew  apart,  and  disclosed  the 
caliph  himself,  seated  on  a  golden  throne,  in  robes 
more  splendid  than  those  of  kings,  and  surrounded  by 
a  small  number  of  his  domestics  and  favourite  eunuchs. 
Then  the  sultan  advanced  and  explained  the  object  of 
this  visit,  and  the  reasons  which  had  led  to  the  treaty 
with  the  Christians.  The  caliph  replied  in  a  few  words 
that  he  agreed  to  the  treaty,  and  promised  to  interpret 
all  the  conditions  in  the  manner  most  favourable  to  the 
king. 

But  Hugh  demanded  that  the  caliph  should  ratify  the 
treaty  by  giving  his  hand,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Christians,  a  proposition  which  was  received  with  the 
greatest  horror ;  nor  was  it  till  the  sultan  had  urged 
the  point  with  vehemence  that  the  caliph  consented, 
presenting  his  right  hand  covered  with  a  handkerchief. 
Again  the  sturdy  Hugh  expostulated.     '  Sir,'  said  he  to 


THE  CALIPH.  341 


the  caliph,  who  had  never  been  addressed  in  such  a 
manner  before,  '  loyalty  knows  no  concealments.  Let 
everything  between  princes  be  bare  and  open.  .  .  . 
Give  me  your  uncovered  hand,  or  I  shall  be  constrained 
to  think  that  you  have  some  secret  design,  and  possess 
less  sincerity  than  I  wish  to  experience  from  you.' 
The  caliph  yielded,  smiling,  and  with  a  good  grace, 
while  his  courtiers  were  dumb  with  amazement,  and 
repeated,  in  the  same  words  as  Hugh,  the  oath  to 
adhere  to  the  conditions  in  good  faith,  without  fraud  or 
evil  intention. 

The  caliph  was  in  the  flower  of  youth,  tall,  and  of 
handsome  appearance ;  he  had  an  infinite  number  of 
wives,  and  was  named  El  ''Adhid  li  din  illah.  When  he 
sent  away  the  deputies,  he  gave  them  presents  whose 
abundance  and  value  served  at  the  same  time  to  honour 
him  who  gave  them,  and  to  rejoice  those  who  received 
them  from  so  illustrious  a  prince. 

The  terms  of  alliance  being  thus  agreed  upon, 
Amaury  proceeded  with  his  campaign.  But  Shirkoh 
was  too  wary  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  fighting, 
and  after  playing  with  him  a  little,  withdrew  into  the 
desert,  and  the  Christians  occupied  the  city  of  Cairo, 
where  they  were  allowed  to  go  everywhere,  even  into 
the  palace  of  the  caliph,  a  mark  of  the  highest  favour. 
Shirkoh  returned,  and  trusting  to  his  superiority  of 
numbers,  forced  on  a  battle.  He  had  with  him — of 
course  the  numbers  must  be  taken  with  some  reserve — 
twelve  thousand  Turks  and  ten  thousand  Arabs,  the 
latter  armed  with  nothing  but  the  lance.  The  Chris- 
tians had  three  hundred  and  sixty  knights,  a  large  body 
of  Turcopoles,  and  the  Egyptian  army,  the  numbers  of 
which  are  not  given. 

The  battle  was  fought  at  a  place  called  Babain,  '  the 


342-  JERUSALEM. 


two  gates,'  about  two  leagues  from  Cairo,  on  the 
borders  of  the  desert,  where  sandhills  encroach  steadily 
on  the  cultivated  soil,  and  form  valleys  between  them- 
selves, in  which  the  Christians  had  to  manoeuvre.  No 
ground  could  have  been  worse  for  them.  The  battle 
went  against  them.  At  the  close  of  the  day  Hugh  of 
Csesarea  had  been  taken  prisoner,  the  Bishop  of  Beth- 
lehem, Eustace  Collet,  Jocelyn  of  Samosata,  and  many 
other  knights,  were  killed,  the  Christians,  fighting  still, 
were  scattered  about  the  field,  and  the  king  found 
himself  on  one  of  the  sandhills,  master  of  the  position 
for  which  he  had  fought,  but  with  very  few  of  his 
men  round  him.  He  raised  his  banner  to  rally  the 
Christians,  and  then  began  to  consider  how  best  to  get 
away  from  the  field,  for  the  only  way  was  through  a 
narrow  pass,  threatened  on  either  side  by  a  hill  on 
which  the  Turks  were  crowded  in  force.  They  formed 
in  close  array,  placing  on  the  outside  those  who  were 
the  best  armed.  But  the  Turks  made  no  attack  upon 
them,  probably  from  ignorance  of  the  result  of  the 
day,  or  from  fatigue,  and  the  Christians  marched  all 
through  the  night.  It  was  four  days  before  they  all 
came  back  to  the  camp,  and  it  was  then  found  they  had 
lost  a  hundred  knights  on  the  field. 

Shirkoh,  whose  losses  had  been  very  much  greater, 
rallying  his  men,  marched  northwards  on  Alexandria, 
which  surrendered  without  striking  a  blow.  By 
Amaury's  advice,  an  Egyptian  fleet  was  sent  down 
the  river  to  intercept  all  supplies,  and  as  Alexandria 
was  without  any  stores  of  corn  and  provisions,  it  was 
not  long  before  Shirkoh,  starved  out,  left  the  city  in  the 
charge  of  his  nephew,  afterwards  the  great  and  illus- 
trious Saladin,  with  a  thousand  horse,  while  he  himself 
took    up    his    old    position    near    Cairo.     Thereupon 


BATTLE  OF  BABAIN.  343 

Amaury  moved  north  to  invest  Alexandria.  The 
Egyptian  fleet  held  the  river  and  commanded  the  port; 
the  allied  armies  blocked  up  all  the  avenues  of  ap- 
proach ;  the  orchards  and  gardens  round  the  walls, 
which  had  been  the  delight  and  pride  of  the  Alex- 
andrians, were  ruthlessly  destroyed  :  fresh  recruits 
poured  in  from  all  parts  of  Palestine,  and  the  besieged 
began  to  suffer  from  all  kinds  of  privation.  Saladin 
sent  messengers  to  his  uncle,  urging  him  to  bring  as- 
sistance. Shirkoh,  too  weak  to  send  any,  thought  it 
best  to  make  favourable  terms  while  he  could.  Sending 
for  his  prisoner  Hugh  of  Csesarea,  he  made  proposals 
of  peace.  '  Fortune,'  he  said,  '  has  not  been  favourable 
to  me  since  I  came  into  this  country.  Would  to  God 
I  could  see  my  way  out  of  it !  You  are  noble,  a  friend 
of  the  king,  and  weighty  in  counsel  ;  be  a  mediator  of 
peace  between  us.  Say  to  the  king,  "  We  are  losing 
our  time  here  ;  it  passes  without  bringing  any  profit  to 
us,  while  there  is  plenty  for  us  to  do  at  home."  And 
why  should  the  king  lavish  his  strength  upon  these 
cowardly  Egyptians,  for  whom  he  is  trying  to  secure 
the  riches  of  the  country?  Let  him  have  back  all  the 
prisoners  whom  I  hold  in  irons ;  let  him  raise  the  siege 
and  give  me  back  my  men  who  are  in  his  hands,  and  I 
will  go  out  of  the  country.' 

Hugh  took  the  message,  and  gave  the  advice  that  the 
Saracen  wished.  A  council  was  held,  and  the  terms 
were  agreed  to.  The  gates  were  thrown  open,  provi- 
sions taken  in,  and  besiegers  and  besieged  mingled  on 
those  friendly  terms  which  were  now  common  in  the 
East.  Saladin  went  to  the  camp  of  Amaury,  who 
received  him  as  a  friend,  and  the  Vizier  Shawer  entered 
into  the  city,  and  began  the  administration  of  justice  ; 
that  is  to  say,  he  hanged  all  those  who  were  unlucky 


344  JERUSALEM. 


enough  to  be  in  power  when  Shirkoh  entered  the  city, 
and  who  had  surrendered  a  place  they  had  no  means 
whatever  of  holding.  Examples  such  as  these, 
common  enough  in  the  Middle  Ages,  might  have 
been  expected  to  bring  civic  distinctions  into  dis- 
repute. Ambition,  however,  was  probably  stronger 
than  terror. 

All  being  finished,  the  king  returned  to  Ascalon,  not 
entirely  covered  with  glory,  but  not  without  credit. 

On  his  arrival  he  learned  that  a  bride  was  waiting  for 
him  at  Tyre,  Maria,  niece  of  the  Greek  Emperor,  who 
had  been  wooed  and  won  for  him — the  young  lad}^ 
wishes  were  not,  probably,  much  consulted  in  the  matter 
— by  the  Archbishop  of  Caesarea.  He  hastened  to 
Tyre,  and  on  the  29th  of  the  month,  nine  days  after  his 
arrival  at  Ascalon,  he  was  married  in  great  state 
and  ceremony.  And  now  there  was  peace  in  Palestine 
for  a  brief  space.  The  young  Count  of  Nevers  arrived 
in  Jerusalem,  with  a  numerous  following,  intending  to 
offer  his  arms  to  the  king,  and  dedicate  his  life  to 
fighting  the  Mohammedans.  But  a  sudden  illness 
struck  him  down,  and  after  languishing  a  long  time,  he 
died.  A  secret  embassy  was  also  sent  to  Amaury  from 
Constantinople.  The  emperor  had  learned  the  feeble 
and  enervated  state  of  Egypt,  and,  ignorant  that  Nur- 
ed-din,  a  greater  than  he,  had  his  eyes  upon  the  same 
country,  sent  to  expose  his  own  ambition  to  Amaury, 
and  to  propose  terms  of  common  action.  The  idea 
was  not  new  to  the  long-sighted  king,  the  most  clear- 
headed of  all  the  Kings  of  Jerusalem.  He  had  had 
plenty  of  opportunities,  during  his  Egyptian  campaign, 
of  contrasting  the  riches  of  Cairo  with  the  poverty  of 
Jerusalem,  the  fertility  of  Egypt  with  the  sterility  of 
Palestine.     Little    as    he  cared  about   the  Church,  of 


MARRIAGE  OF  KING.  345 

which  he  was  the  sworn  defender,  it  could  not  but 
occur  to  him  to  contrast  Jerusalem  with  Mecca,  and  to 
consider  that  while  Mecca  was  the  Holy  City,  Baghdad 
and  Cairo  were  the  capitals  of  the  sovereign  caliphs. 
Why  should  not  Cairo  be  to  Jerusalem  what  Baghdad 
was  to  Mecca  ?  Why  should  not  he,  the  caliph  of 
Christianity,  sit  in  that  gorgeous  palace  behind  the  gold- 
embroidered  curtains,  dressed  in  robes  of  purple  and 
satin,  with  his  guards,  his  life  of  indolence  and  ease, 
and — his  seraglio  ?  For  the  customs  of  the  East  had 
struck  the  imaginations  of  these  descendants  of  the 
Crusaders.  They,  too,  longed  for  the  shady  gardens, 
the  fountains,  the  sweet  scent  of  roses — and  the  houris 
of  the  world  with  whom  the  happy  Moslems  anticipated 
the  joys  of  heaven.  Many  of  them,  in  their  castles  far 
awa}'  in  the  country,  imitated,  so  far  as  they  were  able, 
the  customs  of  their  enemies  ;  notably  young  Jocelyn  of 
Edessa.  Some  of  them  became  renegades,  and  going 
over  to  the  Saracens,  got  riches,  and  therefore  luxury, 
at  the  point  of  the  sword.  All  of  them — except  per- 
haps the  Templars  and  Hospitallers,  who  might  do  so 
in  secret — openly  maintained  friendly  relations  with 
the  Mohammedans,  and  partook  freely  of  their  hospi- 
tality. 

And  now  Amaury  was  guilty  of  an  act  of  perfidy 
which  brought  about,  or  rather  accelerated,  the  final 
fall  of  the  Christian  kingdom.  Tormented  by  his  own 
ambitious  designs,  and  the  thought  of  that  rich  empire 
of  Egypt,  which  seemed  to  wait  for  the  first  hand 
strong  enough  to  seize  it — without  waiting  for  the 
Greek  emperor,  perhaps,  however,  acting  in  secret 
concert  with  him — he  declared  that  Shawer  had  been 
sending  secret  messages  to  Nur-ed-din,  and  had  thereby 
infringed  the  treaty  of  alliance.     For  this  reason,  as  he 


346  JERUSALEM. 


alleged,  he  proclaimed  war  against  Egypt,  and  led  his 
army  against  Pelusium.  One  voice  only  was  raised 
against  the  enterprise.  Cruel,  ambitious,  avaricious,  and 
haughty  as  the  Templars  were,  they  were  never  capable 
of  deliberately  breaking  their  word.  The  Grand 
Master  of  the  Order,  Bertrand  de  Blanquefort,  spoke 
loudly  against  the  expedition.  He,  for  one,  would  not 
allow  his  knights  to  join  an  army  which  set  out  to  carry 
war  into  a  kingdom  friendly  to  their  own,  bound  by 
acts  of  solemn  treaty,  which  had  committed  no  offence, 
which  had  continued  loyal  and  true  to  its  engagements. 
The  Templars  remained  behind  at  Jerusalem.  The 
Hospitallers  went  with  Amaury  and  his  host,  one  of  the 
finest  armies  that  the  kingdom  had  ever  produced. 
They  began  by  taking  Pelusium,  after  a  ten  days'  march 
through  the  desert  along  a  road  which  they  knew  well 
by  this  time.  The  resistance  made  by  Pelusium  was 
very  short,  lasting  only  three  days,  when  the  Christians 
took  the  place,  and  slaughtered  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  who  fell  into  their  hands. 

The  vizier,  Shawer,  was  thrown,  at  first,  into  the 
wildest  terror.  In  the  disorganized  state  of  his  army 
there  was  absolutely  nothing  to  prevent  the  Christians 
from  marching  directly  upon  Cairo,  and  gaining  posses- 
sion, by  a  single  assault,  of  the  whole  realm  of  Egypt. 
All  seemed  lost,  and  Shawer  was  already  preparing 
for  flight,  when  it  occurred  to  him  to  tempt  the 
king,  whose  cupidity  was    notorious,   by   the   offer   of 

money. 

'  Nullum  numen  abest,  si  sit  prudentia.' 

Shawer  sent  his  messengers.  Amaury  listened  to  them. 
At  the  same  time,  as  a  last  resource,  Shawer  sent 
courtiers  in  hot  haste  to  Nur-ed-din,  exposing  the 
critical  state  of  the  kingdom.     To  keep  the  Christians 


SHA  WER  AND  AM  A  UR  Y.  347 

from  advancing,  he  kept  his  messengers  running  back- 
wards and  forwards,  offering,  declining,  renewing,  in- 
creasing the  advantages  of  his  terms.  Amaury  was  to 
have  a  quarter  of  a  million,  half  a  million,  a  million,  two 
million  pieces  of  gold,  on  condition  that  he  would  give 
him  back  his  son  and  nephew,  and  quit  the  kingdom. 
All  this  time,  the  negotiations  being  entirely  secret,  the 
king  was  pretending  to  advance,  but  very  slowly,  and 
the  Christians,  not  knowing  the  cause  of  the  delay,  were 
eager  to  be  led.  After  eight  or  nine  days  of  negotia- 
tions, which  the  sultan  had  occupied  in  getting  into 
Cairo  every  fighting  man  upon  whom  he  could  reckon, 
the  king  moved  his  forces  to  a  village  five  or*  six 
miles  from  Cairo,  where  he  pitched  his  camp.  Here 
messengers  from  Shawer  met  him,  imploring  him  not 
to  advance  nearer  the  city,  as  he  was  engaged  in 
collecting,  with  all  possible  speed  and  diligence,  the 
sum  of  money  which  he  had  promised.  Shawer  had 
already  got  back  his  son  and  nephew,  giving  in  return 
two  grandchildren — children  of  tender  age.  Amaury 
was  completely  deceived.  Lulled  by  the  assurances  of 
Shawer,  dazzled  by  his  own  golden  dreams,  he  saw 
himself,  the  successful  violator  of  a  solemn  treaty, 
returning  laden  with  a  treasure  of  gold  such  as  no  king 
of  the  West  could  boast ;  with  this  he  would  bring 
knights  from  Europe ;  with  this  he  would  beat  off  the 
Saracens,  conquer  Damascus,  reconquer  Edessa  and  the 
strong  places  of  the  north  ;  and  having  successfully 
used  this  mighty  treasure,  he  would  violate  another 
solemn  treaty,  return  to  Egypt  with  a  larger  and  more 
powerful  army,  and  make  himself  master  of  Cairo  and 
all  its  wealth.  There  was  plenty  of  time ;  he  was 
not  yet  thirty  ;  life  was  all  before  him,  and  many  years 
of  enjoyment. 


348  JERUSALEM. 


But  there  came  a  rude  awakening  to  the  dream. 
Nur-ed-din,  hearing  of  the  expedition  of  Amaury,  and 
intercepting  the  messengers  of  Shawer,  had  two 
courses  open  to  him.  He  might  take  advantage  of 
Amaury's  absence,  and  pour  all  his  troops  together  into 
Palestine,  so  as  either  to  annihilate  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem,  or  cripple  it  beyond  power  of  recovery ;  or 
he  might  send  Shirkoh  again  to  Egypt,  this  time  as  the 
ally  of  Shawer,  and  with  secret  instructions  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  alliance.  He  preferred  the  latter  course. 
Egypt  was  a  prey  that  required  courage  and  prompt- 
ness ;  Palestine  could  wait ;  like  an  over-ripe  pear,  it 
was*  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  drop  at  his  feet. 
Shirkoh  arrived  in  Egypt.  Shawer  dropped  the  veil, 
and  laughed  at  Amaury.  The  king,  in  an  agony  of  rage 
and  mortification,  hastily  broke  up  his  camp  and  retired 
to  Pelusium.  Thence,  seeing  that  there  was  nothing 
more  to  be  done,  he  returned  in  disgrace  and  confusion 
to  his  own  kingdom. 

As  for  Shirkoh,  he  had  no  intention  whatever  of  going 
home  again  without  getting  something  substantial  out 
of  the  expedition.  He  established  his  camp  before 
Cairo,  and  encouraged  Shawer  to  look  on  him  as  one  of 
his  best  friends,  inviting  him  to  enter  his  camp  at  all 
times,  and  come  without  escort.  And  one  day,  when 
Shawer,  relying  on  the  friendliness  of  his  ally,  rode  in 
accompanied  only  by  two  or  three  of  his  sons  and 
friends,  he  was  seized  by  the  guards  of  Shirkoh  and 
beheaded,  without  any  resistance  being  possible. 
Shirkoh,  meantime,  was  taking  a  walk  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  so  as  to  be  able  to  say  that  he  was  innocent 
of  the  murder.  Shawer's  sons  fled  to  the  caliph.  But 
the  caliph  could  do  nothing  ;  the  house  of  Shawer 
were  all  cut  off,  like  the  house  of  Saul ;  and  the  repre- 


A  MA  UR  Y  O  UTWITTED.  349 

sentative  of  the  Fatemites  was  compelled  to  acknow- 
ledge the  servant  of  his  rival  as  his  sultan  and  vizier, 
the  real  master  of  Egypt. 

1  Oh,  blind  cupidity  of  men  !'  cries  William  of  Tyre; 
'  all  the  treasures  of  Egypt  were  lying  at  our  feet.  .  .  . 
There  was  safety  for  those  who  travelled  by  sea  ;  there 
was  trade  for  those  who  wished  to  enrich  themselves  in 
Egypt  ;  there  was  no  enemy  for  us  in  the  south ;  the 
Egyptians  brought  us  their  merchandise,  and  spent 
their  gold  in  our  country.  And  now  all  is  changed  ; 
sad  are  the  notes  of  our  harps  ;  the  sea  refuses  us 
peaceful  navigation ;  all  the  countries  around  us  obey 
our  enemies ;  every  kingdom  is  armed  for  our  ruin. 
And  the  avarice  of  one  man  has  done  this  ;  his  cupidity 
has  covered  over  with  clouds  the  clear  bright  sky  which 
the  goodness  of  the  Lord  had  given  us.' 

It  was  some  comfort  to  the  Christians  to  hear  that 
Shirkoh,  a  year  after  his  accession  to  power,  was  gone 
out  of  the  world.  But  a  mightier  than  Shirkoh  came 
after  him,  his  nephew,  Saladin. 

And  now,  indeed,  the  situation  of  the  Christian 
kingdom  was  precarious.  With  the  exception  of  Tyre 
and  the  towns  to  the  north,  the  kingdom  consisted  of 
nothing  but  Palestine  between  Tiberias  on  the  north 
and  Ascalon  on  the  south.  All  the  outlying  forts,  or 
nearly  all,  were  already  gone.  The  prestige  of  Amaury, 
which  had  been  raised  by  his  first  successful  expedition, 
was  entirely  gone  by  the  ill-success  of  the  second. 
Moreover,  Egypt,  which  had  been  a  friendly  power, 
was  now  hostile.  By  means  of  a  fleet  from  Egypt  the 
country  might  be  menaced  from  the  sea  as  well  as  from 
the  land;  reinforcements,  supplies,  might  be  cut  off; 
pilgrims  intercepted.  Under  these  circumstances,  it 
was  resolved  to  send  letters  at  once  to  all  the  Western 


35o  JERUSALEM. 


kings  and  princes,  calling  for  assistance.  The  patri- 
arch, the  Archbishop  of  Caesarea,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Acre  were  selected  to  be  the  bearers  of  these.  The 
deputies,  armed  with  these  despatches,  embarked  in  a 
single  ship.  A  frightful  storm  overtook  them  ;  the  oars 
were  broken ;  the  masts  all  went  by  the  board  ;  and  on 
the  third  day,  more  dead  than  alive  with  sickness  and 
fright,  the  unlucky  ambassadors  put  back  to  port, 
and  refused  to  venture  themselves  again  upon  the  sea. 
The  Archbishop  of  Tyre  took  their  place,  and  went 
away,  under  better  auspices,  accompanied  by  the  Bishop 
of  Banias,  who  died  in  France.  He  was  away  for  two 
years,  but  did  not  effect  anything.  Europe,  in  fact, 
was  growing  tired  of  pouring  assistance  into  a  country 
which,  like  the  sea,  swallowed  everything,  gave  nothing 
back,  and  still  demanded  more. 

The  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  however,  who  was 
perfectly  aware  of  the  importance  of  keeping  the  Turks 
employed  in  fighting  against  Palestine,  and  knew  well 
that,  Jerusalem  once  gone,  Asia  Minor  was  at  their 
mercy,  and  Constantinople  would  be  the  object  of  their 
ambitions,  sent  a  fleet  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  galleys  of 
war,  with  sixty  large  transports,  and  ten  or  twelve 
dromons,  filled  with  all  sorts  of  instruments  of  war. 
It  would  have  been  better  for  King  Amaury  had  this 
gift,  a  white  elephant,  which  had  to  be  fed,  never  been 
sent.  As  it  was  come,  however,  he  proceeded  to  make 
use  of  it  by  invading  Egypt  a  third  time.  And  this 
time  they  determined  on  besieging  Damietta,  and 
Amaury  led  his  army  from  Ascalon,  on  the  ioth  October, 
1 169,  on  the  most  useless  expedition  that  he  had  yet 
undertaken. 

A  bar,  formed  by  an  iron  chain,  ran  across  the  river, 
which  prevented  the  Christian  fleet  from  advancing  to 


THE  GREEK  FLEET.  351 

the  town ;  they  therefore  took  up  their  station  outside. 
The  troops  on  land  began  their  siege  in  regular  form, 
and,  if  Amaury  had  given  the  word,  the  town  might 
have  been  carried  by  assault ;  but  he  let  the  moment 
pass,  and  reinforcements  of  Turks  poured  into  the 
place  by  thousands.  Towers  were  constructed  and 
sorties  made  by  the  besieged,  but  no  advantage  on 
either  side  was  gained.  But  now  began  the  misfortunes 
of  the  Christians.  The  Greeks  had  no  provisions. 
They  subsisted  for  a  while  by  eating  that  portion  of 
the  palm  which  is  cut  from  the  top  of  the  trunk  at  the 
branching  out  of  the  leaves — no  bad  food,  provided 
enough  can  be  obtained,  the  worst  of  it  being  that 
each  palm  contains  no  more  than  enough  for  a  single 
salad  (as  the  palmiste  is  now  used),  and  costs  the  life 
of  a  tree.  And  when  the  forest  of  palms  was  cut  down 
round  Damietta  there  was  no  more  food  of  any  kind  to 
be  had,  while  the  soldiers  of  Amaury  were  unable  to 
help  their  allies,  having  to  consider  the  probability  of 
being  in  a  few  days  without  food  themselves.  Then 
heavy  rains  fell  and  swamped  the  tents,  and  even  a 
broad  ditch  round  each  one  did  not  wholly  keep  out 
the  water.  The  Greek  fleet,  too,  was  nearly  destroyed 
by  a  fire  boat,  which  was  sent  down  the  river.  It  set 
fire  to  six  of  the  galleys,  and  would  have  destroyed  all 
the  rest  but  for  the  king  himself,  who  mounted  his 
horse,  half  dressed,  and  rode  down  to  the  bank  shout- 
ing to  the  sailors.  The  assaults  were  continued,  but 
there  was  no  longer  any  heart  in  the  Christian  camp, 
and  Amaury  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  and  withdrew  his 
troops  to  Ascalon,  which  he  reached  on  the  21st  of 
December,  having  been  engaged  for  two  months  in 
convincing  the  Saracens  of  his  feebleness  even  when 
backed  by  the  Greeks.     The  fleet  was  overtaken  by  a 


352  JERUSALEM. 


storm,  most  of  the  ships  were  lost,  and  of  all  the 
magnificent  array  of  galleys  that  sailed  from  Constan- 
tinople in  the  spring,  but  very  few  remained  after  the 
campaign  of  Damietta.  The  failure  of  the  expedition 
was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Greek  emperor, 
who  had  promised  a  large  sum  of  money  sufficient  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  army,  allowed  it  to  go  without 
any.  And  the  Greek  generals,  the  first  to  find  them- 
selves in  want  of  provisions,  not  only  had  no  money 
to  buy  them,  but  could  find  no  one  to  lend  them 
money. 

The  following  year  was  marked  by  disasters  of  quite 
another  kind.     A  great  earthquake,  or  rather  a  succes- 
sion of  earthquakes,  passed  through  Palestine,  and  by 
its  violence,  and  the  frequency  of   its  attacks,  for  it 
returned  again  and  again  during  a  space  of  three  or 
four  months,  filled  all  men's  hearts  with  fear  ;  hundreds 
perished  in  the  ruins  of  their  houses ;  grief  and  con- 
sternation spread  everywhere.      Antioch,   with  nearly 
its  whole  population,  was  entirely  destroyed,  even  its 
strong  walls    and    towers    being    all    thrown    down  ; 
Laodicea,    Emesa,  Aleppo,    and    Hamath  shared  the 
fate  of  Antioch.     Tripoli  presented  the  appearance  of 
a  heap  of  stones,  and  Tyre,  more  fortunate  than  the 
rest,  had  yet  some  of  its  towers  overthrown.     Amid 
these  disasters  there  was  no  thought  of  war,  and  for 
some    months,    at    least,    there   was   peace.      But   in 
December    news    came    that    Saladin    was    invading 
Christian  territory  in  the  south.     Amaury  hastened  to 
Ascalon,  and  called  all  his  chivalry  together.     They 
assembled  at  Gaza,  and  he  found  that  he  could  muster 
two  hundred  and  fifty  knights  and  two  thousand  foot. 
Saladin  was  besieging  the  fort  of  Daroum,  which  the 
king  had  himself  built.     But  leaving  Daroum,  Saladin 


COUNCIL  OF  BARONS.  353 

advanced  to  Gaza..  The  Christian  army  fought  their 
way  through  to  the  citadel,  and  Saladin,  after  pillaging 
the  city,  retired  with  his  forces.  Probably  his  object 
was  to  accustom  his  men  by  small  successes  with  over- 
whelming forces  for  the  greater  efforts  he  intended  to 
make  when  the  prestige  of  the  Christians  should  have 
sunk  lower,  and  the  dread  which  the  Saracens  still  felt 
for  the  strong-armed  knights  in  steel  should  have 
wholly,  or  in  great  measure,  passed  away. 

Early  in  the  following  year  Amaury  called  a  council 
of  his  barons  to  deliberate  on  the  precarious  state  of  the 
kingdom.  Every  day  the  number  of  the  enemy  in- 
creased, every  day  their  own  resources  diminished. 
There  was,  of  course,  but  one  way  to  meet  the  dangers 
which  menaced  them,  the  only  way  which  the  kingdom 
had  ever  known,  the  arrival  of  aid  from  Europe.  It 
was  resolved  to  send  ambassadors  with  the  most  urgent 
letters  to  all  the  powers,  and  to  Constantinople  a 
special  ambassador  begging  for  instant  aid.  Who  was 
to  go  ?  The  king,  after  a  short  parley  with  his  advisers, 
declared  that  he  would  go  himself.  The  barons  cried  out, 
on  hearing  this  announcement,  that  they  could  not  be 
deprived  of  their  king,  that  the  realm  would  fall  to 
pieces  without  him — to  all  appearance  seriously  alarmed 
at  the  prospect  of  being  left  alone,  or  else  every  man 
hoping  himself  to  be  appointed  as  ambassador.  But 
Amaury  terminated  the  discussion  in  a  manner 
characteristic  of  himself.  'Let  the  Lord,'  he  said, 
'  defend  His  own  kingdom.  As  for  me,  I  am  going.' 
It  is  tolerably  clear  that  the  sovereign  who  could 
permit  himself  to  have  doubts  on  the  subject  of  a 
future  world,  might  well  have  doubts  as  to  whether  a 
kingdom,  so  harassed  as  his  own,  so  devoured  by  greed, 
selfishness,   and    ambition,    so  corrupted   by   lust    and 

23 


354  JERUSALEM. 


license,  was  really  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord.  If  it 
was,  of  course  the  Lord  would  look  after  His  own  ;  if 
not,  why,  then,  Amaury's  hands  were  well  washed  of  the 
responsibility.  He  went  to  Constantinople,  where  he 
was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  friendship, 
and  William  of  Tyre  exhausts  himself  in  describing  the 
favour  shown  to  him.  One  thing  is  noticeable,  that 
the  splendour  of  the  Greek  emperor  rivalled  that  of  the 
caliph.  On  the  occasion  of  the  first  interview  of 
Amaury  with  the  emperor,  there  were  suspended  before 
the  hall  of  audience  curtains  of  precious  stuff  and  rich 
embroidery,  exactly  like  what  we  are  told  of  the  Caliph 
of  Cairo,  and  as  soon  as  the  king  arrived  the  curtains 
were  withdrawn  and  the  emperor  disclosed  sitting  on  a 
throne  of  gold,  and  dressed  in  the  Imperial  robes. 
Great  fetes  were  given  to  celebrate  the  arrival  of 
Amaury  and  his  train ;  all  the  sacred  relics,  including 
the  wood  of  the  Cross,  the  nails,  the  lance — was  this  the 
lance  found  by  Peter  at  Antioch,  or  another  ? — the 
sponge,  the  reed,  the  crown  of  thorns,  the  sacred 
shroud  and  the  sandals,  were  shown  to  the  Latins ; 
games  and  spectacles  were  invented  for  their  amuse- 
ment, including  choruses  of  young  girls  and  theatrical 
displays,  in  which,  says  the  Archbishop  of  Tyre,  careful 
lest  the  king's  example  should  be  taken  as  a  precedent 
among  his  own  flock,  the  greatest  propriety  was 
observed  ;  and  at  last,  treaties  having  been  signed,  and 
promises  made,  Amaury  departed,  laden  with  valuable 
presents  of  gold  and  other  valuables.  Alas  !  it  was  not 
gold  that  he  wanted,  but  stout  hearts  and  strong  hands, 
and  of  these  he  brought  back  none  but  his  own. 

He  returned  for  more  fighting  and  more  disappoint- 
ment. Nur-ed-din  was  reported  near  Banias  with  an 
arm}',  and  Amaury  had  to  fix  his  camp  in  Galilee  to 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  SARACENS.  355 

watch  his  movements.  The  object  of  the  sultan,  how- 
ever, seems  to  have  been  like  that  of  Saladin,  to 
accustom  his  men  to  face  the  Christians,  and  not  yet  to 
force  on  a  decided  engagement. 

The  Archbishop  of  Tyre  at  this  time  returned  from 
his  embassy.  Nothing  had  been  effected.  The  princes 
of  the  West  would  promise  no  help,  would  give  no  help. 
He  brought  with  him  Stephen,  son  of  Count  Thibaut  of 
Blois,  whom  the  king  intended  to  make  his  son-in-law. 
But  Stephen,  after  coming  to  Jerusalem,  declined  the 
king's  offer,  led  a  wild  and  licentious  life  for  a  few 
months,  to  the  general  scandal,  and  then  returned  to 
Europe. 

Then  followed  three  years  of  war.  Toros,  the 
Armenian  prince,  and  the  firm  ally  of  the  Christians, 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  Thomas.  His 
brother,  Melier,  wishing  to  obtain  the  dominion  for 
himself,  repaired  to  Nur-ed-din,  obtained  his  help  on 
certain  conditions,  and  expelled  his  nephew,  with  all  the 
Latin  Christians  who  were  in  Armenia  and  Cilicia. 
The  Prince  of  Antioch  declared  war  against  him,  and 
the  king  marched  his  army  north.  But  while  he  was 
on  the  road,  news  came  that  Nur-ed-din  was  attacking 
Kerak  in  Moab.  Before  Amaury  could  get  to  Jerusalem, 
whither  he  hastened  on  receipt  of  this  news,  the 
Saracens  were  defeated,  and  the  siege  raised  by 
Humphrey  the  Constable. 

Then  came  Saladin  with  a  large  force.  It  was 
decided  that  the  Christian  army  was  not  strong  enough 
to  meet  him,  and  the  troops  were  marched,  on  pretence 
of  seeking  the  Saracens,  to  Ascalon,  where  they  re- 
mained, while  Saladin  went  round  the  south  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  and  laid  siege  to  the  fortress  of  Montreal. 
This  proved  too  strong  for  him,    and   he  returned  to 

23—2 


35^  JERUSALEM. 


Egypt.  In  the  following  year  he  made  another  un- 
successful attempt  in  Moab,  in  which,  however,  he 
burned  the  vineyards  and  ravaged  the  country,  the 
king  not  being  strong  enough  to  follow  him.  And  now 
follows  the  most  extraordinary  and  inexplicable  story 
in  the  whole  history  of  Jerusalem.  We  give  it  in  the 
words  of  the  historian  himself. 

'  During  forty  years  the  Assassins  followed  the  faith 
of  the  Saracens,  conforming  to  their  traditions  with  a 
zeal  so  great  that,  compared  with  them,  all  other  people 
would  be  esteemed  prevaricators,  they  alone  exactly 
fulfilling  the  law.  At  this  time  they  had  for  chief  a 
man  endowed  with  eloquence,  ability,  and  enthusiasm. 
Forgetting  all  the  customs  of  his  predecessors,  he  was 
the  first  who  had  in  his  possession  the  books  of  the 
Gospels  and  the  Apostolic  code  :  he  studied  them 
incessantly  with  much  zeal,  and  succeeded  at  length,  by 
dint  of  labour,  in  learning  the  history  of  the  miracles 
and  precepts  of  Christ,  as  well  as  the  doctrine  of  the 
Apostles. 

'  Comparing  this  sweet  and  fair  teaching  of  Christ 
with  that  of  the  miserable  seducer,  Mohammed,  he  came 
in  time  to  reject  with  scorn  all  that  he  had  been  taught 
from  the  cradle,  and  to  hold  in  abomination  the 
doctrines  of  him  who  had  led  the  Arabs  astray.  He 
instructed  his  people  in  the  same  manner,  ceased  the 
practices  of  a  superstitious  worship,  removed  the  inter- 
diction from  wine  and  pork,  abolished  the  Mohammedan 
fasts,  and  overthrew  the  oratories.  He  then  sent  a 
messenger,  one  Boaldel,  to  King  Amaury  with  the 
following  offer.  If  the  Templars,  who  possessed  strong 
places  in  his  neighbourhood,  would  remit  an  annual  ! 
tribute  of  two  thousand  pieces  of  gold  which  they  1 
exacted  from  the  people  round  their  castles,  he  and  his  \ 


THE  TEMPLARS'  POLICY.  357 

would  be  converted  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  would  all 
receive  baptism. 

'  The  king  received  the  ambassador  with  a  lively  joy. 
He  went  so  far,  in  his  readiness  to  close  with  the  offer, 
as  to  hold  himself  prepared  to  indemnify  the  Templars 
for  the  sum  which  they  would  lose.  And  after  keeping 
the  messenger  a  long  time  in  order  to  conclude  an 
arrangement  with  him,  he  sent  him  back  to  his  master, 
with  a  guide  to  watch  over  the  security  of  his  person. 
They  had  already  passed  the  city  of  Tripoli,  and  were 
on  the  point  of  entering  into  the  country  of  the  Assassins, 
when  suddenly  certain  men,  brethren  of  the  Temple, 
drawing  their  swords  and  rushing  upon  the  traveller, 
who  advanced  without  fear  and  under  ths  protection  of 
the  king,  massacred  the  messenger  of  the  sheikh.' 

Thus  was  lost  the  most  splendid  opportunity  that 
ever  Christian  King  of  Jerusalem  had.  There  cannot 
be  the  least  doubt  that,  had  the  messenger  arrived  home 
in  safety,  a  large  army  of  men  devoted  to  any  cause 
which  their  chief  embraced,  sworn  to  obey  or  to  die, 
trained  in  close  discipline,  fanatic  to  the  last  degree, 
would  have  been  transferred  to  the  Christian  camp. 
Moreover,  there  would  have  been  a  precedent  which 
history  lacks  of  the  conversion  of  a  whole  tribe  or 
nation  from  Islamism  to  Christianity.  What  sort  of 
religion  the  sheikh  of  the  Assassins  contemplated  is 
difficult  to  tell.  But  he  could  not  have  been  a  worse 
Christian  than  the  defenders  of  Palestine.  And  then 
comes  the  question,  why  did  the  Templars  kill  the 
messenger  ?  what  reason  had  they  for  thwarting  the 
sheikh  and  the  king?  why,  considering  the  indemnity 
they  were  to  receive,  should  they  wish  to  prevent  the 
arrangement  ?  And  what  could  have  been  their  motive 
for  preventing  the  conversion  of  the  Assassins  to  their 


358  JERUSALEM. 


own  religion  ?  One  answer  only  occurs  to  us.  It  has 
always  seemed  to  us  that  the  Templars,  towards  the 
close  of  the  Christian  rule  in  Palestine,  were  actuated 
by  a  deep  and  firmly-rooted  ambition.  They  proposed, 
seeing  the  weakness  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  worthless- 
ness  of  its  barons,  to  acquire  for  themselves  castle  after 
castle,  strong  place  after  strong  place,  till,  when  King 
Amaury  was  dead,  and  his  son,  already  known  to  be 
tainted  with  leprosy,  was  on  the  throne,  the  kingdom 
would  drop  quietly  into  their  own  hands,  the  only 
strong  hands  left  in  the  country.  With  this  end  in 
view  they  were  acquiring  forts  in  Cilicia  and  Armenia, 
all  over  Phoenicia,  and  across  the  Jordan.  Palestine 
proper  was  dotted  with  their  manors  and  fiefs.  Nor 
was  this  all.  In  Europe  their  broad  lands  increased 
every  day,  and  their  income,  already,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  their  dissolution,  was  enormous. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Templars,  had  they 
chosen  to  concentrate  their  forces,  and  to  get  together 
all  the  knights  they  could  muster,  might  have  deferred 
for  long,  and  perhaps  altogether,  the  final  fall  of  the 
kingdom.  But  they  did  not  perceive  the  immediate 
danger,  and  while  the  Mohammedan  forces  were  uniting 
and  concentrating,  they  probably  still  believed  them  to 
be  divided  and  dissentient. 

On  no  other  ground  than  the  hypothesis  of  this  am- 
bition can  we  explain  the  singular  murder  of  this 
ambassador.  The  Templars  did  not  wish  to  see  the  king's 
hands  strengthened. 

As  this  strange  association,  the  Order  of  Assassins, 
played  a  most  important  part  in  the  political  events  of 
the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  a  more  detailed 
account  of  origin  and  tenets  may  not  be  out  of  place 
here. 


THE  ASSASSINS.  359 

The    national   aversion    of    the    Persians    from    the 
religion  of  their  Mohammedan  conquerors  gave  rise  to 
a  number  of  secret  sects  and  societies  having  for  their 
object   the   subversion    of    Islam,    and    in   the    hatred 
which  already  existed  between  the  two  great  divisions 
of  that  creed,  the  Sunnis  and  Shiahs,  the  leaders  and 
originators    of   these    sects    found    a  ready    means    of 
securing  proselytes  and  adherents.     In  the  year  815,  a 
chief  named  Babek  founded  a  new  religious  order  and 
waged  an  open  war  against  the  caliphs,  by  whom  he  was, 
however,  defeated  and  his  followers  exterminated.     But 
while  his  partisans  fell  beneath  the  sword  of  the  execu- 
tioner there  was  living  at  Ahwas,  in  the  south  of  Persia, 
a  certain  'Abdallah,  grandson  of  Daisan   the  dualist, 
who  had  inherited  the  hatred  which  his  grandfather 
had  sworn  against  the  faith  and  power  of  the  Arabs. 
Warned  by  the  fate  of  Babek's  followers,  he  determined 
to  undermine  insidiously  what  he  could  not  with  safety 
openly  attack.     He  accordingly  formed  a  society  into 
which  proselytes  were  only  admitted  upon  proof,  and 
after  being  sworn  to  the  profoundest  secrecy.  The  initia- 
tion consisted  of  seven  degrees,  in  the  highest  and  last  of 
which  he  taught — that  all  religions  were  mere  chimeras 
and  human  actions  indifferent.    His  missionaries  spread 
over  the  whole  of  the  East,  and  carried  their  peculiar 
doctrines  into  Syria,  where  one  of  them,  named  Ahmed 
ibn  Eshka'as  el  Carmati,  founded  the  sect  of  Carma- 
thians,  whose  history  has  been  already  traced.     'Obeid 
allah  el  Mehdi,  the  founder  of  the  Fatemite  dynasty, 
was  a  follower  of  El  Carmati,  and  from  the  moment 
when  El   Mehdi  made  himself  master  of    Egypt  the 
Carmathian  tenets  prevailed  in  that  country,  under  the 
name  of  Ismailiyeh.     They  were  propagated  by  official 
agents,  of  whom  the  chief  was  named  Ddl  ed  Doat, 


360  JERUSALEM. 


1  missionary  of  missionaries,'  and  Cddhi  el  Codhdt, 
'judge  of  judges.'  In  the  year  1004  they  held  public 
assemblies  in  Cairo  under  the  presidency  of  the  last- 
mentioned  officer.  These  meetings  were  called  mejdlis  el 
hikmeh,  or  '  scientific  meetings,'  and  were  devoted  to 
instructing  those  present  in  the  mathematical  and 
other  sciences  ;  but  such  as  were  considered  worthy 
were  admitted  to  a  more  intimate  participation  in  their 
mysteries,  and  were  taught  the  secret  doctrines  of  the 
sect,  consisting  of  a  strange  melange  of  Persian  and 
Gnostic  ideas. 

We  have  already  seen  how  this  institution  was  made 
to  subserve  the  interests  and  pander  to  the  mad 
fanaticism  of  El  Hakem  bi  amri  'llah,  and  indirectly 
gave  birth  to  the  powerful  sect  of  the  Druzes. 

During  the  last  half  of  the  eleventh  century  one  of 
the  Ismaelite  missionaries,  Hassan  ibn  Subah  el 
Homairi,  became  the  founder  of  the  new  sect  of  the 
Ismaelites  of  the  East,  or  Assassins.  Hassan  was 
born  in  Khorassan  ;  in  his  youth  he  contracted  an 
intimate  friendship  with  Nizam  el  Mulk  and  'Omar  el 
Khaiyam,  and  the  three  associates  took  a  solemn  oath 
mutually  to  advance  each  other's  prospects  in  after  life. 
'Omar  el  Khaiyam  became  celebrated  as  an  astronomer 
and  poet  ;■*  and  Nizam  el  Mulk  attained  to  the  office 
of  grand  vizier,  under  the  Seljukian  Sultan  Melik  Shah. 
Hassan  es  Subah  sought  and  obtained  the  assistance 
of  his  former  companion,  and  was  promoted  to  high 
office  in  the  court.  Prompted,  however,  by  ambition, 
he  endeavoured  to  supplant  his  benefactor,  but  Nizam 
el  Mulk  discovered  and  counteracted  his  designs,  and 

*  His  '  Quatrains/  stanzas  of  exquisite  polish,  were  published  by 
M.  Nicholas,  Paris,  1867.     He  is  the  poet  who  of  late  years  (i<r 
has  so  strongly  touched  certain  writers. 


THE  ASSASSINS.  361 


Hassan  was  driven  in  disgrace  from  the  king's  presence. 
Not  long  afterwards  he  founded  the  order  of  Assassins, 
and  Melik  Shah  and  his  vizier  were  among  the  first  of 
his  victims.  In  1090  he  made  himself  master  of 
the  fortress  of  Alamut,  built  on  the  summit  of  a  lofty 
mountain,  with  steep  escarpments,  a  little  distance  from 
Casbin  in  the  Persian  province  of  'Irak.  This  castle 
he  fortified  and  supplied  with  water,  partly  from  arti- 
ficial and  partly  from  natural  springs,  and,  by  com- 
pelling the  inhabitants  to  cultivate  the  surrounding 
land  and  store  the  produce  in  the  subterranean 
granaries  of  the  castle,  he  rendered  it  capable  of  sus- 
taining a  protracted  siege. 

Although  the  secret  doctrines  of  the  Ismaelites  were 
taught  in  nine  degrees,  there  were  but  two  ranks  in 
the  order,  namely  the  refik,  or  '  companion,'  and  dd'i, 
or  '  missionary.'  Hassan  instituted  a  third  class,  that 
of  the  fedawi,  or  'devoted  one.'  For  them  the  secrets 
of  the  order  were  always  covered  with  an  impenetrable 
veil,  and  they  were  but  the  blind  instruments  of  ven- 
geance or  aggression  in  the  hands  of  their  superior. 
They  composed  the  bodyguard  of  the  grand  master, 
and  were  never  for  a  single  moment  without  their 
daggers,  so  as  to  be  ever  ready  to  perpetrate  murders 
at  his  command. 

Marco  Polo  gives  us  a  substantial,  and  doubtless 
exact,  account  of  the  ceremonies  which  took  place 
upon  the  initiation  of  a  fedawi  into  the  order.  Within 
the  precincts  of  their  impregnable  fortresses  were 
gardens  furnished  with  all  that  could  delight  the  eye 
or  appeal  to  the  sensual  taste  of  the  voluptuary.  Here 
the  neophyte  was  led,  delicious  meats  and  wines  of 
exquisite  flavour  were  set  before  him,  girls  as  beautiful 
as  the  houris  of  the  prophet's  paradise  ministered  to  his 


362  JERUSALEM. 

pleasures,  enchanting  music  ravished  his  ears,  his  every 
wish  was  gratified  almost  before  it  was  uttered,  and, 
intoxicated  with  delight,  he  fancied  that  he  had  really 
entered  upon  the  joys  of  the  blessed.  An  intoxicating 
drug  had  in  the  meanwhile  been  mixed  with  the  wine, 
and,  by  producing  a  sort  of  delirium,  for  a  time  en- 
hanced his  enjoyment,  but  as  the  satiety  and  languor 
consequent  upon  excess  crept  over  him  he  fell  back 
stupefied  and  insensible,  in  which  state  he  was  carried 
out  of  the  place.  On  awaking  he  found  himself  beside 
the  grand  master,  who  told  him  that  all  the  joys  he 
had  experienced  were  but  a  foretaste  of  what  was 
destined  for  those  who  yielded  implicit  obedience  to 
his  commands.  The  alternative  for  those  who  doubted 
or  hesitated  was  instant  death. 

The  youth  thus  '  devoted'  to  the  service  of  the  order 
was  carefully  trained  in  all  the  arts  of  deception  and 
disguise ;  he  was  taught  to  speak  various  languages, 
and  to  assume  a  variety  of  dresses  and  characters ; 
and,  loosed  from  all  trammels  of  conscience  or  of 
creed,  he  went  forth,  prepared  to  plunge  his  dagger 
into  the  breast  of  his  dearest  friend,  and  even  into  his 
own,  at  his  superior's  command.  Such  an  association 
could  not  but  prove  a  formidable  political  agent  in 
these  troublous  times,  and  the  sovereigns  of  the  East 
feared  the  secret  dagger  of  the  order  more  than  the 
armies  of  their  foes,  and  rendered  to  the  grand  master 
whatever  tribute  and  homage  he  chose  to  demand. 
Towards  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  power 
of  the  Assassins  had  extended  itself  from  Khorassan  to 
the  mountains  of  Syria,  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the 
Caspian.  All  trembled  before  it,  and  submitted  more 
or  less  to  its  will.  Hassan  died  in  1124,  after  having 
chosen  for  his  successor  Kia  Buzurgumid,  one  of  the 


THE  ASSASSINS.  363 


most  strenuous  of  his  Dais ;  and  the  dignity  of  grand 
master  became  ultimately  hereditary  in  his  family. 
The  order  of  Assassins  continued  in  its  integrity  until 
1254,  when  Manjou  Khan,  grandson  of  the  celebrated 
Jenghiz  Khan,  put  an  end  to  its  existence.  As  for  the 
association  of  the  Ismaelites  in  Cairo,  the  Mejdlis  el 
Hikmeh,  or  scientific  lodges,  they  were  finally  suppressed 
by  Saladin  in  the  year  1171  a.d. 

The  Grand  Master  of  the  Assassins  was  called  simply 
Sheikh,  'elder,'  or  ' chief;'  and  from  his  rocky  fortresses 
sf  Alamut  and  Maziatt  he  was  known  as  Sheikh  el 
febel,  '  Sheikh  of  the  Mountain.'  The  Crusaders, 
misinterpreting  the  title,  always  spoke  of  him  as  the 
'Old  Man  of  the  Mountain.' 

There  is  little  doubt  but  that  the  order  of  Knights 
Templars,  who  figure  so  largely  in  the  history  of  the 
Crusades,  became  in  many  respects  a  society  closely 
akin  to  the  Assassins.  The  different  grades  of  rank 
amongst  them  correspond  exactly  with  the  several  de- 
grees of  the  Ismaelite  fraternity.  Their  dress,  white 
with  a  red  cross,  symbolizing  innocence  and  blood,  is 
almost  identical  with  the  garb  of  the  Fedawis,  while 
the  irreligious  practices  and  secret  murders,  which 
were  afterwards  clearly  proved  against  them,  all  tend  to 
establish  the  conviction  that  they  were  rather  Knights 
of  the  Dagger  than  of  the  Cross. 

Amaury,  the  poor  harassed  king,  all  of  whose  projects 
failed,  and  none  of  them  through  his  own  fault,  fell  into 
a  fit  of  rage  which  nearly  killed  him,  when  he  heard  the 
news  of  the  murder  of  the  ambassador  of  the  '  Old 
Man  of  the  Mountain.'  What  was  to  be  done  ?  what 
revenge  could  be  taken  for  a  mischief  which  was 
irremediable  ?     He  called  his  barons,  and  poured  the 


364  JERUSALEM. 


whole  story  into  their  indignant  ears.  They  chose  two 
of  their  own  body,  and  sent  them  to  Odo  de  St. 
Amand,  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  to  demand 
satisfaction  in  the  name  of  the  king  and  the  realm  for 
a  crime  so  extravagant.  One  Walter  du  Mesnil  was 
suspected,  a  stupid  man,  likely  to  do  whatever  others 
told  him  without  inquiry  or  doubt.  And  here  appears 
the  pride  of  the  Templars.  Odo  coldly  sent  back  word 
that  he  had  '  imposed  a  penance'  on  the  criminal,  and 
that  he  should  send  him  to  the  pope.  The  king  went 
to  Sidon  himself,  seized  the  suspected  man  by  force, 
and  threw  him  into  prison,  in  spite  of  the  protestations 
and  fury  of  Odo.  Then  followed  protest,  appeal,  and 
protest  again.  Amaury  succeeded  in  making  the  Old 
Man  of  the  Mountain  believe  in  his  own  innocence, 
but  the  Sheikh's  enthusiasm  for  the  religion  of  Christ 
was  now  quenched,  and  the  opportunity  gone  by. 

The  significance  of  Odo's  reply  to  Amaury  lies  in  his 
promise  to  send  the  criminal  to  the  pope.  Just  as  the 
Templars,  from  the  very  beginning,  were  free  from  any 
episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  owned  no  authority  in  eccle- 
siastical matters  in  other  than  the  pope  himself,  so  they 
now  arrogated  to  themselves  freedom  in  things  tem- 
poral. They  would  have  no  king  but  their  grand 
master,  no  bishop  but  the  pope ;  they  would  have  no 
interference  in  the  government  of  their  own  castles  and 
places  from  any  sovereign  at  all.  And  this  seems  to  | 
have  been  the  main  reason — their  assumption  of  in- 
dependence— why  their  destruction  was  afterwards 
determined  on  by  King  Philip  of  France. 

In  the  year  1173*  died  Nur-ed-din,  the  greatest  man 
of  Saracen  story,  next  to  Saladin. 

*  According  to  William  of  Tyre.     Others  place  his  death  a  year 
later. 


BENJAMIN  OF  TUDELA.  365 

Directly  Amaury  heard  of  his  death,  he  laid  siege  to 
Banias — it  will  be  remembered  how  Nur-ed-din  refused 
to  take  advantage  of  Baldwin's  death — but  raised  the 
siege  after  a  fortnight  in  consequence  of  entreaties  and 
the  offer  of  large  sums  of  money  from  Nur-ed-din's 
widow.  On  his  return  he  complained  of  indisposition. 
This  became  worse,  and  a  violent  dysentery  set  in. 
They  carried  him  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  died,  after  all 
the  doctors,  Greek,  Syrian,  and  Latin,  had  been  called 
in  successively.  He  was  then  in  his  thirty-eighth  year. 
One  feels  pity  for  Amaury,  more  than  for  any  other  of 
the  Kings  of  Jerusalem.  He  was,  at  the  same  time,  so 
long-headed  and  so  unlucky ;  so  capable,  yet  so  unsuc- 
cessful ;  so  patient  under  all  his  disasters ;  so  active  in 
spite  of  his  corpulence ;  so  careful  of  the  kingdom,  yet 
so  unpopular  ;  so  harassed  with  doubts,  yet  so  loyal  to 
his  duty  ;  and  so  hopeful  in  spite  of  all  his  disappoint- 
ments, that  one  cannot  help  admiring  and  sympathizing 
with  him.  He  committed  the  most  gross  act  of  perjury 
in  invading  Egypt  on  pretence  of  Shawer's  disloyalty. 
But  he  was  punished  for  it  by  the  destruction  of  the 
fairest  dream  of  conquest  that  ever  man  had. 

For  one  thing  the  present  writers  must,  at  least,  be 
thankful  to  him.  He  it  was  who  instigated  William  of 
Tyre  to  write  that  admirable  history  from  which  a  large 
part  of  these  pages  is  taken. 

In  1 163  the  city  of  Jerusalem  was  visited  by  the 
Jewish  traveller  Benjamin  of  Tudela.  He  tells  the 
following  curious  story  concerning  the  tombs  of  the 
kings.  *  On  Mount  Sion  are  the  sepulchres  of  the 
house  of  David,  and  those  of  the  kings  who  reigned 
after  him.  In  consequence  of  the  following  circum- 
stance, however,  this  place  is  at  present  hardly  to  be 
recognised.     Fifteen  years  ago,  one  of  the  walls  of  the 


366  JERUSALEM. 


place  of  worship  on  Mount  Sion  fell  down,  and  the 
patriarch  commanded  the  priest  to  repair  it.  He 
ordered  stones  to  be  taken  from  the  original  wall  of 
Sion  for  that  purpose,  and  twenty  workmen  were  hired 
at  stated  wages,  who  broke  stones  from  the  very 
foundation  of  the  walls  of  Sion.  Two  of  these 
labourers,  who  were  intimate  friends,  upon  a  certain 
day  treated  one  another,  and  repaired  to  their  work 
after  their  friendly  meal.  The  overseer  accused  them 
of  dilatoriness,  but  they  answered  that  they  would  still 
perform  their  day's  work,  and  would  employ  thereupon 
the  time  while  their  fellow-labourers  were  at  meals. 
They  then  continued  to  break  out  stones,  until,  happen- 
ing to  meet  with  one  which  formed  the  mouth  of  a 
cavern,  they  agreed  to  enter  it  in  search  of  treasure, 
and  they  proceeded  until  they  reached  a  large  hall, 
supported  by  pillars  of  marble,  encrusted  with  gold 
and  silver,  and  before  which  stood  a  table,  with  a 
golden  sceptre  and  crown.  This  was  the  sepulchre  of 
David,  King  of  Israel,  to  the  left  of  which  they  saw 
that  of  Solomon  in  a  similar  state,  and  so  on  the 
sepulchres  of  all  the  Kings  of  Judah,  who  were  buried 
there.  They  further  saw  chests  locked  up,  the  contents 
of  which  nobody  knew,  and  were  on  the  point  of  enter- 
ing the  hall,  when  a  blast  of  wind  like  a  storm  issued 
forth  from  the  mouth  of  the  cavern  so  strong  that  it 
threw  them  down  almost  lifeless  on  the  ground.  There 
they  lay  until  evening,  when  another  wind  rushed  forth, 
from  which  they  heard  a  voice  like  that  of  a  man 
calling  aloud,  "Get  up,  and  go  forth  from  this  place." 
The  men  rushed  out  full  of  fear,  and  proceeded  to  the 
patriarch  to  report  what  had  happened  to  them.  This 
ecclesiastic  summoned  into  his  presence  R.  Abraham  el* 
Constantini,   a  pious  ascetic,  one  of  the  mourners  of; 


BENJAMIN  OF  TUDELA.  367 

the  downfall  of  Jerusalem,  and  caused  the  two  labourers 
to  repeat  what  they  had  previously  reported.  R.  Abra- 
ham thereupon  informed  the  patriarch  that  they  had 
discovered  the  sepulchres  of  the  house  of  David  and 
of  the  Kings  of  Judah.  The  following  morning  the 
labourers  were  sent  for  again,  but  they  were  found 
stretched  on  their  beds  and  still  full  of  fear  ;  they 
declared  that  they  would  not  attempt  to  go  again  to  the 
cave,  as  it  was  not  God's  will  to  discover  it  to  anyone. 
The  patriarch  ordered  the  place  to  be  walled  up,  so  as  to 
hide  it  effectually  from  everyone  unto  the  present  day. 
The  above-mentioned  R.  Abraham  told  me  all  this.' 

To  enable  the  reader  better  to  understand  what  has 
gone  before,  it  will  be  as  well  to  review  the  position  of 
the  Turks  in  Syria  during  this  and  the  immediately 
preceding  reigns. 

By  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  flight  of  its 
Egyptian  governor,  El  Afdhal,  the  kingdom  of  Syria 
was  lost  for  ever  to  the  Fatemite  Caliphs.  They  yet 
retained  possession  of  Egypt,  but  the  remaining  princes 
of  the  house  were  mere  tools  in  the  hands  of  designing 
ministers,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  luxurious  ease  in 
their  palaces  at  Cairo.  Nor  were  their  opponents,  the 
'Abbassides,  in  much  better  case,  but  lingered  idly  on 
in  Baghdad,  wielding  the  shadow  of  their  former  power, 
while  rival  vassals  fought  and  struggled  for  the  substance. 

The  Seljukian  sultans,  after  lording  it  over  their'im- 
perial  masters,  had  shared  the  same  fate ;  and,  having 
yielded  themselves  up  to  the  enticements  of  luxury  and 
wealth,  were  in  turn  tyrannized  over  by  their  more 
vigorous  Turkish  slaves  the  Atabeks.  The  founder  of 
this  family,  a  favourite  slave  of  Melik  Shah,  had  been 
promoted  to  the  governorship  of  Aleppo,  but  perished  in 
the  civil  disorders  consequent  on  the  death  of  the  sultan 


368  JERUSALEM. 


and  the  final  division  of  the  Seljukian  kingdom.  His 
son  Zanghi  did  good  service  against  the  Franks  at 
Antioch,  and  was  rewarded  by  the  caliph  with  the 
sovereignty  of  Aleppo  and  Mosul.  His  career  was  one 
of  uninterrupted  success,  and  in  a  comparatively  short 
space  of  time  he  had  taken  Edessa,  and  wrested  from 
the  Franks  their  possessions  beyond  the  Euphrates. 
His  son  Nur-ed-din  completed  the  work  which  his 
father  had  begun  ;  he  once  more  raised  the  prestige  of 
the  Mohammedan  name,  and  added  the  kingdom  of; 
Damascus  to  that  of  Aleppo  and  Edessa,  which  he  had 
inherited.  Christian  and  Mohammedan  authors  alike 
testify  to  the  uprightness  and  integrity  of  his  character, 
to  his  impartial  justice,  and  to  the  austere  simplicity  ofl 
his  manners.  He  rigorously  proscribed  the  use  of; 
wine,  he  wore  neither  gold  nor  silk,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion when  his  favourite  wife  requested  indulgence  of: 
some  feminine  fancy,  he  bestowed  upon  her  '  three 
shops  in  the  city  of  Hums,'  alleging  that  he  had  no 
other  private  property,  and  that  he  dared  not  alienate 
the  public  funds,  which  he  considered  as  a  sacred  trust.! 
He  is  usually  designated  by  Moslem  writers  by  the  title 
of  Shehid  the  Martyr,  not  because  he  fell  fighting  for 
the  faith,  but  because  his  life  was  spent  in  one  con- 
tinuous series  of  holy  works. 

The  Frank  occupation  of  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land 
had  spread  dismay  throughout  the  whole  of  Islam  ;  in 
their  distress  the  followers  of  the  prophet  turned  to 
Damascus,  and  saw  in  the  rising  greatness  of  its 
sovereign  a  fresh  hope  of  retrieving  their  fortunes. 
Nur-ed-din  did  indeed  become  the  instrument  of  the 
final  overthrow  and  expulsion  of  the  Christians ;  but  a 
slight  digression  is  necessary  to  explain  the  circum- 
stances which  led  to  his  introduction  upon  the  scene. 


SHIRKOH.  369 


Dargham  and  Shawer,  rival  aspirants  to  the  dignity 
of  prime  minister  to  El  "Adhid  le  din  Allah,  last  of  the 
Fatemite  caliphs  of  Egypt,  had,  by  their  struggles  for 
power,  involved  that  country  in  civil  war.  Shawer, 
finding  himself  unable  to  cope  with  his  more  powerful 
foe,  applied  for  assistance  to  Nur-ed-din,  who  sent 
Esed-ed-din  Shirkoh,  governor  of  Edessa,  with  a  large 
army  into  Egypt.  Dargham  was  defeated  and  slain, 
and  the  victorious  Shirkoh  claimed  for  his  master  Nur- 
ed-din  the  reward  which  Shawer  himself  had  proposed, 
namely,  a  third  of  the  revenues  of  the  country  ;  and,  on 
payment  being  delayed,  proceeded  to  occupy  Bilbeis, 
the  capital  of  the  eastern  province,  as  security. 
Shawer,  as  perfidious  as  he  was  ambitious,  invited 
Amaury,  King  of  Jerusalem,  to  aid  him  in  ejecting  his 
creditor.  Shirkoh  was  obliged  to  relinquish  Bilbeis  ; 
but  having  received  reinforcements  from  Damascus,  he 
speedily  returned,  marched  upon  Cairo,  and  defeated  the 
troops  of  the  Fatemite  caliph,  and  made  himself  master 
of  Upper  Egypt.  His  nephew  Yusuf  had  been,  in  the 
meantime,  sent  against  Alexandria,  which  place  he 
captured,  and  gallantly  defended  for  more  than  three 
months,  against  the  combined  forces  of  the  Egyptians 
and  Crusaders.  At  last,  both  the  Christian  and 
Damascene  troops  consented  to  evacuate  Egypt,  on 
consideration  of  receiving  each  a  large  sum  annually 
out  of  the  revenues ;  and  articles  of  peace  were  solemnly 
drawn  up,  and  ratified  by  all  the  contending  parties  ; 
the  Crusaders  were,  moreover,  allowed  to  maintain  a 
garrison  at  Cairo,  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  protect- 
ing the  Egyptian  Government  from  aggression  on  the 
part  of  Nur-ed-din.  Fortunate  would  it  have  been  for  the 
Christian  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  had  Amaury  held  to 
his  agreement ;    but  the   favourable  terms  which  had 

24 


37o  JERUSALEM. 


been  accorded  him  inspired  him  with  an  undue  con- 
fidence in  his  own  strength,  and,  blind  alike  to  his 
interests  and  his  honour,  he  determined  upon  a  fresh 
invasion.  Accordingly,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1168,  he  led  an  army  into  Egypt,  took  possession  of 
Bilbeis,  and  marched  upon  Cairo.  The  greatest  con- 
sternation prevailed  in  the  capital  at  the  treacherous 
conduct  of  the  Christian  monarch,  and  the  savage 
cruelty  of  his  troops.  Cairo  was  hastily  surrounded 
with  a  wall  and  fortifications,  and  the  old  city  was  set 
on  fire  at  the  approach  of  the  invaders,  the  conflagra- 
tion raging  for  fifty-four  days.  In  this  extremity  the 
Egyptian  caliph  piteously  besought  Nur-ed-din  to  lend 
him  his  aid ;  and,  in  order  still  further  to  excite  his 
compassion,  and  depict  the  miserable  plight  to  which 
they  were  reduced,  and  the  danger  to  which  they  were 
exposed  from  the  unbridled  licentiousness  of  the 
invaders,  El  "Adhid  enclosed  locks  of  his  women's  hair 
in  the  letter  which  contained  his  appeal.  Shawer,  in 
the  meantime,  endeavoured  to  avert  the  immediate 
calamity  by  making  terms  with  Amaury,  and  the  latter, 
dreading  the  arrival  of  the  Damascene  reinforcements, 
consented  to  raise  the  siege  on  receiving  an  indemnity 
of  a  million  dinars;  a  hundred  thousand  were  paid 
down  in  ready  money,  and  the  Crusaders  retired,  in 
order  to  give  the  vizier  time  to  collect  the  remainder^ 
Nur-ed-din,  on  receipt  of  El  "Adhid's  letter,  at  once 
despatched  Shirkoh  to  the  relief  of  Cairo,  with  an  armj 
of  eight  thousand  men,  six  thousand  of  whom  wen 
Syrians,  and  the  remainder  Turks,  and  a  sum  of  twq 
hundred  thousand  dinars,  as  well  as  a  large  supply  o 
clothes,  arms,  horses,  and  provisions.  Shirkoh  requester 
his  nephew  Yusuf  Salah-ed-din  (Saladin)  to  accompany 
him  upon  this  expedition ;  but  the  latter,  remembering 


DEA  TH  OF  SUA  WER.  37 1 

the   difficulties    and    dangers    he    had    experienced   at 
Alexandria,  begged   to  be  excused,  and  was  only  in- 
duced to  accept  a  commission  by  an  exercise  of  authority 
on  the  part  of  the  sultan  Nur-ed-din.     El"Adhid  met 
Shirkoh  on  his  arrival  with  every  mark  of  respect  and 
gratitude  and  conferred  upon  him  a  magnificent  robe  of 
honour.     The  vizier  Shawer  was  also  a  frequent  visitor 
to   the    Damascene   general's  tent ;    and  assured   the 
latter  that  although  appearances  had  been  against  him, 
he    had    not    willingly   broken    faith    with    him,    and 
promised  that  the  former  agreement  to  pay  Nur-ed-din 
a  third  of  the  revenue  should  now  be  complied  with. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  plotting  how  he  might  best 
dispose  of  so  troublesome  a  visitor ;  and,  having  deter- 
mined   upon    his    assassination,    invited    Shirkoh,    his 
nephew,  and  the  rest  of  his  staff,  to  a  banquet,  at  which 
he  hoped  to  execute  his  treacherous  project.     Saladin, 
however,  received  intelligence  of  the  conspiracy,   and 
prevented  his  uncle  from  accepting  the  fatal  invitation. 
Shawer,  furious  at  being  thus  foiled,  sought  the  tent  of 
Shirkoh,  under  pretence  of  a  friendly  visit,  and  would 
doubtless  have  murdered  him  had  he  not  fortunately 
been  at   that  moment  on  a  visit  to  the  tomb  of  the 
:elebrated  Mohammedan  saint  Es  Shaft 'i.*     Returning 
from  his  fruitless  visit,  Shawer  was  met  by  Saladin  and 
tiis  party,  who  threw  him  from  his  horse,  and  carried  him 
to  Shirkoh's  camp.     El  f/Adhid,  on  hearing  the  news, 
sent  to  demand   the    head    of  his  treacherous  vizier, 
vvhom  he  justly  regarded  as  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles 
:hat  had  recently  fallen  upon  Egypt.     Shirkoh  gladly 
icceded   to    the   request,    and   was    installed   by   the 

*  The  version  of  this  event  given  by  William  of  Tyre  has  been 
ilready  quoted  ;  the  Mohammedan  authors  from  which  the  fore- 
going account  is  taken  regard  it  in  a  somewhat  different  light. 

24 — 2 


372  JERUSALEM. 


Fatemite  caliph  into  the  vacant  post  of  prime  minister, 
and  received  the  honorary  title  of  El  Melik  el  Mansur, 
'  the  Victorious  King,'  and  Emir  el  Jayush,  '  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Forces.'  He  did  not,  however, 
live  long  to  enjoy  his  newly-acquired  dignity,  but  died 
within  two  months  and  four  days  after  his  appoint- 
ment. He  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Salah-ed- 
din  Yusuf  ibn  Aiyub  (the  Saladin  of  European  his- 
torians), whose  life  and  exploits  we  shall  relate  in  a 
future  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

KING    BALDWIN   THE    LEPER.      A.D.  II73 — Il86. 

1  Would  I  were  dead,  if  God's  good  will  were  so, 
For.  what  is  in  this  world  but  grief  and  woe  ?' 

King  Henry  VI. 

The   only  son   of   Amaury,   by  his   first   wife  Agnes, 

daughter  of  the  younger  Jocelyn  of  Edessa,  was  placed, 

at  the  age  of  nine  years,  under  the  charge  of  William 

oi  Tyre.     He  was  a  studious,  bright  boy,  and  at  first 

raised  the  highest  hopes  of  his  future.     But  his  tutor 

discovered  by  accident  that  he  was  afflicted  with  that 

dreadful  and  incurable  disease  which  was  beginning  to 

3e  so  prevalent  among  the  Syrian  Christians.     In  his 

boyish  sports  with  the  children  of  his  own  age,   his 

:utor  remarked  that  when  the  boys  pinched  each  other 

n  the  arm,  little  Baldwin  alone  was  able  to  bear  the  pain 

vithout  any  cry  or  apparent  emotion.     This  awakened 

lis  suspicions,  and  he  took  the  child  to  be  examined  by 

)hysicians.     It  was  found  that  his  right  arm,  of  which 

le  had  appeared  to  have  perfect  command,  was  half 

)aralyzed.     All  sorts  of  fomentations  and  frictions  were 

ried,  but  all  proved  fruitless,  and  it  was  soon  apparent 

hat  the   future   king   was    a   confirmed   leper.       Day 

>y  day  the  disease  gained  ground,  seizing  on  his  hands 

.nd  feet,  and  gradually  gaining  hold  of  his  whole  body. 

ie  was  handsome,  too,  and  an  accomplished  horseman, 

>assionately  fond  of  reading  history  and  hearing  the 


374  JERUSALEM. 

stories  of  valiant  knights,  like  his  father  and  uncle.  In 
person  he  exactly  resembled  his  father,  and,  like  him, 
he  was  troubled  with  an  impediment  of  speech. 

He  was  thirteen  when  his  father  died,  and  four  days 
after  that  event  he  was  crowned  in  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre  with  all  the  ceremonies  customary  at  this 
important  event.  The  regency  was  at  first  confided  to 
Milo  de  Plancy,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  made  by 
Raymond,  who  pleaded  vainly  his  relationship  to  the 
king,  his  long  services,  and  the  importance  of  his 
dignity  as  Count  of  Tripoli.  Milo  was  a  native  of 
Champagne,  and  a  distant  cousin  of  King  Amaury. 
He  was  popular,  because  he  was  prodigal  of  promises, 
and  full  of  that  bravoure  which  catches  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  But  he  was  arrogant,  presumptuous,  and  full 
of  ambition.  Drawing  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  all 
the  barons  by  his  manifest  contempt  for  them,  he  was 
set  upon  one  night,  by  order  of  some  unknown  person, 
probably  one  of  the  barons,  and  murdered,  after  which 
Raymond  succeeded  as  regent  with  no  opposition; 
Raymond  had  spent  nine  years  of  his  life  in  prison  a' 
Aleppo,  and  had  employed  the  dreary  years  of  hn 
captivity  in  study,  so  that  he  was  learned  above  th<!j 
generality  of  laymen.  He  was  a  man  of  courage  h\ 
action,  of  prudence,  and  of  extreme  sobriety  in  life  j 
To  strangers  he  was  generous  and  affable :  to  his  owijj 
people  he  was  neither  one  nor  the  other. 

An  important  change  had  meantime  occurred  in  th' 
fortunes  of  Saladin.  The  death  of  Nur-ed-din  left  hi; 
kingdom  to  a  boy,  named  Malek-es-Saleh,  who  wa! 
received  as  his  successor,  while  the  Emir,  Abu  Mokad; 
dem  was  appointed  regent.  But  the  new  regent  gav 
little  satisfaction  to  the  people,  and  a  secret  messag 
was  sent  to  Saladin  urging  him  to  come  to  Damascu: i 


MARRIAGE  OF  SYBILLE.  375 

and  take  the  regency.  He  went,  Abu  Mokaddem  him- 
*self  yielding  to  the  storm,  and  inviting  him  to  take  the 
reins  of  office.  He  very  soon  became  master  of  the 
situation,  and  marrying  the  widow  of  Nur-ed-din,  he 
assumed  the  title  of  Sultan,  and  henceforth  ruled  the 
East.  During  the  settlement  of  his  affairs  there  was 
comparative  peace  for  the  kingdom,  what  little  fighting 
went  on  being  mostly  in  favour  of  the  Christians.  The 
Emperor  of  Constantinople,  however,  experienced,  near 
Iconium,  a  defeat  so  disastrous  than  any  help  from  that 
quarter  was  not  to  be  looked  for,  and  Manuel  himself, 
heart-broken  at  the  loss  of  his  splendid  army,  and  the 
capture  and  ill-treatment  of  his  brother,  never  re- 
covered his  cheerfulness :  the  memory  of  his  misfortune 
perpetually  troubling  him  and  depriving  him  of  all 
repose  and  tranquillity  of  spirit. 

In  the  third  year  of  the  king's  reign  arrived  in  Jeru- 
salem William  Longsword,  son  of  the  Marquis  of 
Montferrand.  He  had  been  invited  to  marry  Sybille, 
sister  of  the  king,  and  a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  the 
marriage  was  celebrated.  The  greatest  hopes  were 
entertained  of  this  prince.  He  was  strong,  brave,  and 
generous.  He  was  of  the  noblest  descent,  his  father 
having  been  maternal  uncle  to  King  Philip  of  France, 
and  his  mother  being  the  sister  of  Conrad.  He  had 
grave  faults,  however :  he  could  not  keep  any  counsel, 
but  was  perpetually  prating  of  his  projects  ;  he  was 
passionate  and  irascible  to  the  last  degree,  and  he  was 
addicted  to  intemperance  in  eating  and  drinking. 
This  probably  proved  fatal  to  him,  for  he  died  three 
or  four  months  after  his  marriage,  leaving  his  wife 
pregnant. 

This  was  another  calamity  to  the  kingdom,  which 
was  sorely  in  want  of  a  man  strong  enough  to  organize 


376  JERUSALEM. 


a  combined  stand  against  the  rising  power  of  Saladin. 
Philip,  Count  of  Flanders,  who  came  to  make  an  ex-" 
piatory  pilgrimage,  was  next  received  with  hope,  and 
the  king  offered  him  the  command  of  all  his  forces  ; 
but  Philip  failed  in  the  single  enterprise  he  undertook, 
and  returned  home  with  little  addition  to  his  glory. 
While  Raymond,  the  regent,  was  with  Philip  in  the 
north,  Saladin,  who  had  returned  to  Egypt,  led  one  of 
his  periodical  incursions  into  Palestine,  and  fell  to 
ravaging  and  pillaging  the  south  country.  Baldwin, 
leper  as  he  was,  did  not  want  courage.  If  he  could  not 
fight,  he  could  at  least  go  out  with  his  men.  He  had 
with  him  Raymond,  who  had  hastened  to  join  him  ; 
Count  Jocelyn,  his  uncle,  son  of  Jocelyn  the  younger, 
and  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  knights  in  all.  It 
was  judged  prudent  at  first  to  retire  to  Ascalon,  but  the 
people  grew  so  infuriated  at  the  sight  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  pioperty,  that  the  little  Christian  army 
went  out  to  attack  the  mighty  force  of  Saladin.  It  was 
the  last  of  those  wonderful  battles  where  the  Christians, 
frightfully  overmatched,  bore  down  their  enemies  by 
sheer  bodily  strength,  and  carried  the  day  in  spite  of 
numbers.  The  historian  puts  down  Saladin's  army  at 
twenty-six  thousand,  besides  many  thousands  of  light- 
armed  men.  Of  course,  the  number  is  exaggerated, 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  paucity  of  the  Chris- 
tian army  and  the  victory  won  by  Baldwin.  Saladin 
escaped  with  a  hundred  horsemen  in  all,  mounted  on  a 
camel ;  his  men  were  dispersed  in  all  directions  ;  heavy 
storms  of  rain,  and  an  intensity  of  cold,  to  which  they 
were  unaccustomed,  fell  upon  them  in  the  desert,  and 
the  Bedawin,  learning  their  misfortunes,  plundered  and 
murdered  them.  But  the  Christians  were  too  weak  to  : 
follow   up  the  victory  by  invading    Egypt,    and  con- 


GUY  DE  LUSIGNAN.  377 

tented  themselves  with  building  a  fort  at  the  ford  over 
the  Jordan.  They  also  took  the  opportunity  of  a  little 
leisure  to  repair  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  which  were 
now  crumbling  to  pieces.  And  at  this  time  died  stout 
old  Humphrey,  Constable  of  the  kingdom,  after  a  life 
spent  in  incessant  conflicts.  His  death  was  a  great 
loss  to  the  kingdom,  which  could  not  now  spare  a 
single  man.  And  after  a  grievous  defeat  near  Banias, 
where  Odo,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  was 
taken  prisoner,  the  king  concluded  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  Saladin. 

Baldwin's  disease  had  now  assumed  its  most  violent 
form.  He  could  use  neither  hand  nor  foot,  he  was  half- 
blind,  and  rapidly  losing  his  eyesight  altogether.  But 
he  clung  to  the  crown,  and  learning  that  the  Count  of 
Tripoli  was  coming  to  Jerusalem  with  a  large  following, 
he  feared  that  his  intention  was  to  depose  him,  and 
hastened  to  marry  his  sister  Sybille,  widow  of  William 
Longsword,  to  Guy  of  Lusignan.  It  was  an  unfortunate 
marriage,  for  Guy  had  no  virtue  of  any  kind.  He  was 
handsome  and  personally  courageous,  but  quite  unfit 
for  the  burden  that  this  position  threw  upon  him. 
And  now  everything  went  wrong.  There  was  no 
longer  any  self-restraint,  any  concord,  any  noble  aims 
among  the  Christian  knights.  The  patriarch  himself, 
Heraclius,  led  openly  a  life  of  flagrant  immorality ;  the 
Count  of  Antioch,  Bohemond,  a  degraded  descendant 
of  the  great  Bohemond,  divorced  his  wife  without  any 
grounds,  and  married  a  woman  of  ill-repute  :  Raymond 
of  Tripoli  quarrelled  with  the  king ;  on  all  sides  were 
drinking,  dicing,  vice,  and  self-indulgence.  Nothing 
was  more  certain  than  that  the  fall  of  the  kingdom 
was  a  matter  of  time  only,  and  Saladin,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  treaty,  which  was  as  useful  to  him  as  it 


37%  JERUSALEM. 

was  necessary  to  the  Christians,  was  training  his  men 
for  the  final  effort  by  which  he  was  to  win  Jerusalem. 

Renaud  de  Chatillon,  the  restless  adventurer  who 
had  married  Constance  of  Antioch,  was  the  actual 
cause  of  the  fall  of  the  kingdom.  His  wife  being  dead, 
and  her  son  become  the  Count  of  Antioch,  he  married 
again,  this  time  the  widow  of  Humphrey  the  Constable. 
By  his  second  marriage  he  became  the  seigneur  of 
Kerak  and  other  castles  situated  beyond  the  Jordan. 
He  had  with  him  a  large  number  of  Templars,  and 
when  the  treaty  with  Saladin  was  concluded,  he 
announced  his  intention  of  not  being  bound  by  it,  and 
continued  his  predatory  excursions.  Saladin  com- 
plained to  Baldwin,  but  the  hapless  king  was  powerless. 
Then  Saladin  arrested  eighteen  hundred  pilgrims,  who 
had  been  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  Egypt,  and  declared 
his  intention  of  keeping  them  in  irons  until  Renaud 
gave  up  his  Mohammedan  prisoners.  Renaud  and  the 
Templars  only  laughed  at  the  threats  of  Saladin,  and 
went  on  as  before.  The  treaty  being  thus  openly 
broken,  Saladin  had  no  other  alternative  but  to  recom- 
mence hostilities,  but  after  ravaging  Galilee  and  laying 
siege  to  Beyrout,  the  affairs  of  his  own  kingdom 
compelled  him  to  retire,  in  order  to  make  war  with  the 
Attabegs,  masters  of  Mossoul. 

Guy,  meantime,  too  weak  for  the  position  he  held, 
had  not  been  able  to  prevent  Saladin's  ravages  in 
Galilee,  and  when  the  sultan  attacked  the  fortress  of 
Kerak  could  not  go  out  to  the  assistance  of  Renaud. 
Yielding  to  the  pressure  of  his  barons,  the  king  de- 
prived Guy  of  the  regency,  and  associated  his  nephew, 
a  child  of  five  years  old,  with  him  on  the  throne, 
under  the  title  of  Baldwin  V.  Poor  little  Baldwin  V. 
died   very   soon    after,   however,  and    had   very   little 


HERACLIUS  IN  EUROPE.  379 

enjoyment  of  his  dignity.  He  was  the  son  of  William 
Longsword  and  Sybille.  Baldwin  then  summoned 
Guy  de  Lusignan  before  him  to  answer  for  his  many 
sins  of  omission.  Guy  refused  to  obey,  and  took  refuge 
in  Ascalon,  of  which  he  was  count.  The  king,  who 
was  now  quite  blind,  was  carried  to  that  city,  and 
personally  summoned  him  to  surrender.  The  gates 
were  closed.  Baldwin,  thinking  they  would  not  dare 
to  refuse  him  admission,  knocked  at  the  gate  with  his 
own  helpless  hands.  But  no  answer  was  given.  Then 
the  poor  blind  king,  impotent  in  his  rage,  called 
Heaven  to  witness  the  outrage  to  his  authority,  and 
was  carried  back  to  Jerusalem,  swearing  to  punish  the 
audacity  of  Guy.  All  he  could  do  was  to  deprive  him 
of  his  dignities,  and  to  hand  the  regency  over  to 
Raymond  of  Tripoli. 

In  the  desolated  state  of  the  country,  nothing  could 
be  thought  of,  but,  as  usual,  to  send  to  Europe  for 
help.  The  patriarch  Heraclius,  the  Grand  Master  of 
the  Temple,  and  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Hospitallers, 
were  sent  on  an  urgent  embassy  to  ask  for  help.  They 
went  first  to  Rome.  The  Pope  had  been  driven  out  of 
Rome,  and  was  now  at  Verona,  trying  to  re-establish 
peace  throughout  the  whole  of  Christendom.  With 
him  was  Frederic,  Emperor  of  Germany.  They  next 
went  to  France.  Philip  Augustus  received  them  with 
every  kind  of  distinction,  but  would  promise  no  help. 
He  had  only  recently  mounted  the  throne,  and  his  own 
affairs  required  care.  Next,  and  as  a  last  resource, 
they  went  to  England.  Henry  II.  was  full  of  domestic 
trouble  at  the  time.  He  had  taken,  he  acknowledged, 
an  oath  to  defend  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  but  he 
could  not  go  now,  it  was  impossible ;  he  would,  how- 
ever, help  them  with  treasure.     The  patriarch  lost  his 


380  JERUSALEM. 


temper  at  this,  the  last  of  the  repeated  refusals.  '  You 
were  sworn,'  he  cried,  '  to  take  your  army  to  the  Holy 
Land.  Ten  years  have  passed  without  your  doing 
anything  to  redeem  your  promise.  You  have  deceived 
God  :  know  you  not  what  God  reserves  for  those  who 
refuse  to  serve  Him  ?  I  see,'  he  went  on,  '  that  I  am 
exciting  your  wrath  ;  but  you  may  treat  me  as  you 
treated  my  brother,  Thomas  of  Canterbury  ;  it  is  all  the 
same  to  me  whether  I  die  in  Syria  by  the  hand  of 
infidels,  or  whether  I  am  murdered  by  you,  more  cruel 
than  any  Saracen.'  Henry  took  no  notice  of  these 
angry  words,  declared  his  resolution  not  to  abandon 
the  kingdom,  and  allowed  those  of  his  subjects  who 
wished  to  take  the  Cross.  But  the  zeal  for  crusading 
had  died  out,  and  very  few  went  to  defend  the  Church 
of  the  Sepulchre. 

As  for  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  it  was  fast  totter- 
ing to  its  fall.  The  country*  was  dotted  over  with 
castles  and  strongholds,  the  owners  of  which  had 
learned,  since  the  death  of  Amaury,  to  despise  the 
authority  of  the  king.  Moreover,  the  pride  and  power 
of  the  Templars  set  up  a  sort  of  rival  authority. 
Every  baron  fought  for  his  own  land  and  for  his  own  ag- 
grandizement. There  was  no  more  thought  of  conquest 
and  glory ;  they  fought  now  for  plunder  only.  When 
pilgrims  arrived  from  the  West  they  were  made  use  of 
by  the  Syrian  barons  for  their  own  purposes;  and 
when  they  were  strong  enough  to  fight  the  Saracens, 
no  treaty  was  sacred,  no  convention  was  kept.  The 
cities,  especially  those  of  the  sea-shore,  were  divided 
into  nations,  such  as  the  Pisans,  the  Genoese,  and  the 
Venetians,  all  of  whom  contended  with  each  other  over 
their  privileges,  and  often  fought  out  their  quarrels  in 
*  See  Michaud,  vol.  ii.,  p.  306. 


LAST  DA  YS  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  381 

the  streets.  The  Templars  and  the  Hospitallers  bar- 
gained for  their  arms  by  demanding  the  cession  of 
half  a  town,  or  a  fort,  in  return  for  their  services.  They 
quarrelled  Avith  each  other,  with  the  Church,  and  with 
the  king.  And  with  the  depravation  of  morals  had 
come  a  total  neglect  and  contempt  of  religion,  with — 
of  which  there  are  not  a  few  traces — the  birth  of  an 
active  spirit  of  infidelity.  Men  had  begun  to  question 
and  to  compare.  There  were  not  wanting  renegades 
to  be  found  among  the  Mohammedan  armies.  Islam 
received  its  converts  from  the  Christians,  but  it  gave 
back  none  in  return. 

The  Crusaders  had  embarked  upon  an  enterprise 
which  rested  on  religious  enthusiasm.  Religion  was 
the  salt  of  the  kingdom  which  they  founded.  While 
this  lasted — it  lasted  till  the  reign  of  Baldwin  III. 
— there  was  hope.  When  this  died — it  died  in  the 
reign  of  Amaury — the  kingdom  was  lost.  Every  baron 
and  every  soldier  was  in  a  sense  a  special  soldier 
of  Christ,  a  kind  of  lay  priest  of  the  altar.  He  had 
ever  before  his  eyes  those  sacred  places  at  sight  of 
which  his  fathers  had  wept  aloud.  But  the  handling  of 
sacred  things  is  profitable  only  so  long  as  the  heart  is 
open  to  their  influences.  To  the  impure  the  most  holy 
things  are  a  mockery,  the  highest  aims  are  a  subject  of 
derision.  And  just  as  a  worthless  priest  is  generally 
worse  than  a  worthless  layman,  because  he  has 
deadened  his  conscience  more,  and  religion,  a  familiar 
thing,  has  no  longer  any  power  to  move  his  soul,  so  the 
degenerate  soldiers  of  Jerusalem  were  worse  than  their 
fellows,  coarse,  rude,  and  sensual  though  these  might 
be,  beyond  the  sea,  because  for  them  there  was  nothing 
left  which  was  able  to  touch  their  hearts. 

Our  history  of  the    Christian  kingdom   draws  to  a 


382  JERUSALEM. 

close.  In  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  the  miserable 
king,  who  had  mercifully  been  deprived  of  his  senses, 
for  the  disease,  when  it  has  devoured  the  fingers  and 
toes,  and  eaten  into  the  vigour  and  strength  of  a  man, 
fastens  mysteriously  on  his  intellect,  and  devours  that 
too,  died,  or  rather  ceased  to  breathe,  and  was  buried 
with  his  fathers.  We  are  not  told  what  epitaph  was 
chosen  for  him.  Surely,  of  all  men,  on  Baldwin's 
tomb  might  have  been  carved  the  word  '  Miserrimus.' 

Little  Baldwin  V.  died  a  day  after  his  uncle, 
poisoned,  as  was  supposed,  by  his  mother  and  Guy 
de  Lusignan.  It  is  possible.  The  women  whom 
Baldwin  II.  left  behind  him,  his  daughters  Milicent, 
Alice,  Hodierne,  were  bad  themselves,  and  the  mothers 
of  worse  daughters.  Of  Sybille  we  can  say  little,  except 
that  she  was  known  to  have  had  a  guilty  love  for  Guy 
before  their  marriage — the  king  was  actually  uncertain 
at  one  time  whether  to  stone  to  death  his  sister's  para- 
mour, or  to  make  him  her  husband  ! — that  she  was 
completely  under  his  rule,  and  that  she  was  ambitious, 
bold,  and  intriguing. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

KING    GUY    DE    LUSIGNAN.      A.D.    Il86,    I187. 

1  Heu  !  voce  flebili  cogor  enarrare 
Facinus  quod  accidit  nuper  ultra  mare, 
Quando  Saladino  concessum  est  vastare 
Terram  quam  dignatus  est  Christus  sic  amare.' 

Contejnporary  Poem. 

When  the  little  King  Baldwin  had  been  buried,* 
Sybille  went  to  the  patriarch,  the  Grand  Master  of  the 
Templars,  and  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Hospitallers, 
to  ask  their  advice  and  assistance.  The  first  two  bade 
her  be  under  no  anxiety,  because  they  would  pro- 
cure her  coronation,  the  former  out  of  love  for  her 
mother,  the  Lady  Agnes,  and  the  latter  out  of  the 
great  hatred  he  bore  for  Raymond  of  Tripoli.  And 
they  advised  her  to  send  at  once  for  Renaud  de 
Ghatillon,  as  a  man  likely  to  be  of  great  service  to  her. 
Unluckily  for  Renaud,  he  came.  At  the  same  time 
she  was  to  send  to  the  Count  of  Tripoli  and  the 
barons,  summoning  them  to  her  coronation,  because 
the  crown  had  devolved  upon  her.  These,  however, 
refused  to  be  present,  and  sent  a  formal  protestation 
against  the  coronation.  Heraclius  and  the  Master  of 
the  Templars  laughed  at  the  protest,  but  the  Master  of 
the  Hospitallers  refused  to  attend  the  ceremony.     The 

*  The  history  of  William  of  Tyre,  from  which  a  large  part  of  the 
preceding  account  of  the  Christian  kingdom  has  been  taken,  ends 
abruptly  just  before  the  death  of  Baldwin.  The  materials  for  this 
chapter  are  mainly  taken  from  Bernard  the  Treasurer. 


384  JERUSALEM. 

gates  of  the  city  were  shut,  and  no  one  allowed  to 
enter  or  go  out.  The  barons,  who  were  at  Nablous, 
sent  a  trustworthy  messenger,  disguised  as  a  monk,  to 
see  what  went  on.  Denied  admittance  at  the  gates,  he 
went  to  the  lazar-house,  which  was  close  to  the  walls, 
and  where  he  knew  of  a  little  postern.  Here  he 
was  admitted,  and,  like  a  modern  reporter,  went  to  the 
church  and  took  notes  of  the  proceedings.  The  Queen 
elect  was  brought  into  the  church  by  Renaud  and  the 
Master  of  the  Templars.  The  patriarch  asked  the 
latter  for  his  key — there  were  three — of  the  treasury, 
where  were  laid  up  the  crowns.  He  gave  it  up.  Next 
he  asked  the  Master  of  the  Hospitallers  for  his.  He  re- 
fused to  give  it  up.  Now,  without  the  three  keys, 
those  in  the  hands  of  the  grand  master  and  that  kept 
by  the  patriarch,  the  coronation  could  not  proceed,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  the  crown  and  sceptre  were  not 
to  be  got  at.  The  Master  of  the  Hospitallers,  when 
they  pressed  him,  declared  that  he  had  hidden  the  key. 
They  searched  for  it,  but  could  not  find  it.  Then  they 
pressed  him  again,  the  coronation  ceremony  waiting  all 
this  time  in  the  church,  until,  in  a  rage,  he  dashed  his 
key  down  on  the  ground,  and  told  them  that  they  might 
do  as  they  pleased. 

The  patriarch  brought  out  two  crowns :  one  he 
placed  on  the  altar,  the  other  he  placed  on  the  head  of 
Sybille.  When  she  was  crowned  he  said  to  her, '  Lady, 
you  are  a  woman,  and  it  is  fitting  that  you  have  with 
you  a  man,  who  may  aid  you  to  govern  the  realm. 
Take  this  crown,  and  bestow  it  upon  one  capable  of 
ruling.' 

It  must  be  mentioned  that,  previous  to  her  corona- 
tion, Sybille,  in  the  hope  of  conciliating  the  barons,  j 
had  announced  her  intention  of  getting  a  divorce  from 


THE  BARON'S  DISCONTENT.  385 

her  husband.  In  this  hope  she  was  deceived,  for  not 
one  was  present.  There  was  therefore  no  occasion  for 
further  pretence.  Taking  the  crown,  she  called  Guy  de 
Lusignan,  and  said  to  him,  '  Sir,  advance  and  receive 
this  crown,  for  I  know  not  how  better  to  bestow  it.' 

He  knelt  before  her,  she  placed  the  crown  upon  his 
head,  and  so  Guy  de  Lusignan  became  King  of 
Jerusalem,  the  only  incapable  king  the  little  kingdom 
had,  the  only  worthless  king.  When  his  brother 
Geoffrey  heard  of  the  election,  he  remarked,  '  If  they 
have  made  him  a  king,  I  suppose  they  would  have  made 
me  a  god  had  they  known  me.' 

When  the  spy  got  back  to  Nablous,  and  told  what 
had  happened,  Baldwin  of  Ramleh  offered  to  lay  a 
wager  that  he  would  not  be  king  for  a  year,  a  bet  which 
he  would  have  won,  as  the  event  proved. 

'  As  for  me,'  said  Baldwin, '  the  country  is  lost,  and  I 
shall  go,  because  I  do  not  wish  to  share  the  shame  and 
disgrace  of  having  assisted  in  the  ruin  of  our  kingdom. 
And  for  you,  my  lords,  do  what  you  please.' 

'  Sir  Baldwin,'  cried  Raymond,  '  have  pity  on  Chris- 
tianity and  remain  to  help  us.  Here  is  Count  Humphry 
with  his  wife  Isabelle,  also  the  daughter  of  King  Amaury. 
Let  us  go  to  Jerusalem  and  crown  them  there.  We 
shall  have  with  us  at  least  all  the  knights  of  St.  John. 
And  I  have  a  truce  with  the  Saracens,  who  will  even 
help  us  if  we  want  them.' 

It  was  decided  to  make  Humphry  king ;  but 
Humphry  had  no  mind  for  a  crown  which  brought 
with  it  so  many  anxieties  and  troubles  as  that  of 
Jerusalem.  In  the  dead  of  night  he  rode  off  to  Queen 
Sybille  ;  and  when  the  barons  came  to  crown  him  in 
the  morning,  they  found  to  their  great  disgust  that  he 
was  gone. 

25 


J86  JERUSALEM. 

He  went  straight  to  his  sister-in-law,  and,  being 
brought  into  her  presence,  saluted  her  as  queen.  But 
she  took  no  notice  of  him,  because  he  had  not  been 
present  at  her  coronation.  '  Whereupon  Humphry 
began  to  scratch  his  head  like  a  child  that  is  ashamed 
of  himself,  and  said,  "  Dame  !  I  could  not.  Why,  they 
wanted  to  make  me  king  in  spite  of  myself.  That  is 
why  I  ran  away !'" 

Evidently  a  simple,  straightforward  knight,  this 
Humphry  of  Toron,  and  of  sound,  rather  than  brilliant, 
parts. 

'  Since  it  is  so,'  said  the  queen, '  I  have  no  longer  any 
animosity  towards  you.  But  first  do  homage  to  the 
king.' 

Which  Humphry  did. 

The  barons,  acting  on  the  advice  of  Raymond,  were 
not  slow  in  coming  to  tender  their  allegiance,  with  the 
exception  of  Sir  Baldwin  of  Ramleh,  who  only  sent  his 
little  son,  praying  Guy  to  receive  his  homage,  which  the 
king  refused  to  do.  Thereupon  Baldwin  came  himself, 
and  went  through  the  necessary  forms,  saying,  '  Sir 
Guy,  I  do  you  homage,  but  as  a  man  who  would  rather 
not  hold  lands  under  you.' 

It  was  for  his  son's  sake,  for  the  knight  would  not 
remain  any  longer  in  the  country,  and  went  away,  '  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  Saracens.' 

Raymond,  meantime,  was  gone  to  Tiberias,  where  he 
waited  to  see  what  would  happen.  The  first  thing  that 
happened  was  a  succession  of  signs  from  heaven, 
manifestly  importing  disaster.  As  they  happened  on 
Mohammedan  soil  as  well  as  Christian,  it  is  presumed 
that  the  followers  of  Islam  interpreted  them  in  a  con- 
trary spirit.  There  were  tempests  and  impetuous 
winds,   hail   as  big  as   hens'   eggs,   earthquakes,  great 


PORTENTS  AND  OMENS.  387 

waves,  and  rades  de  mer,  while  fire  ran  across  the 
heavens,  '  and  you  would  have  sworn  that  all  the 
elements  were  wrathful,  detesting  the  excesses  and 
vices  of  man.'  It  will  be  observed  that  even  in  portents 
there  is  a  decadence  in  the  Christian  kingdom.  Time 
was  when  knights  in  armour  assailed  cities  in  the 
heavens,  and  when  great  comets  blazed  in  the  east  like 
swords  hanging  over  a  doomed  country.  We  fall  back 
now  on  hail  and  storm. 

Raymond  called  in  Saladin  on  learning  that  it  was 
the  king's  intention  to  besiege  Tiberias.  Saladin  was 
glad  of  an  excuse,  and  sent  his  son  in  command  of  a 
small  army — Bernard  says  of  seven  thousand.* 

The  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars  went  out  to  meet 
them.  He  had  in  all  one  hundred  and  forty  knights 
with  whom  to  confront  this  host.  The  knights  fought,  as 
they  always  did,  gallantly  and  bravely ;  so  bravely 
that  they  perished  almost  to  a  man,  only  the  Master 
himself  and  a  very  few  escaping.  One  knight,  Jacques 
de  Maille,  a  Templar,  performed  such  prodigies  of 
valour  that  after  he  had  fallen,  the  Turks  cut  up  his 
garments  and  divided  them,  in  memory  of  so  valiant  a 
man.  It  was  in  May  that  this  disaster  happened,  the 
result  of  internal  dissension.  '  And  in  this  month,'  says 
a  chronicler,  '  when  it  is  most  fitting  that  roses  should 
be  gathered,  the  people  of  Nazareth  went  out  to  gather 
together  the  dead  bodies  of  their  valiant  knights,  and 
to  give  them  burial.' 

The  Master  of  the  Templars  had  got  hastily  back  to 
Nazareth,  and  sent  out  messengers  in  all  directions  that 
he  had  gotten  a  signal  victory  over  the  Turks,  and  that 
all  who  wanted  booty  must  hasten  to  his  standard. 
They  all  flocked  to  him  like  vultures,  at  the  mention  of 
*  Others  say  five  hundred,  which  is  more  probable. 

25—2 


388  JERUSALEM. 


booty,  and  he  led  them  to  the  field  where  the  dead 
bodies  of  his  knights  lay,  the  flower  of  the  two  orders. 
It  is  the  keenest  sarcasm  on  the  cowardice  and  mean- 
ness of  the  people  that  we  read  of. 

'  Pudet  hsec  opprobria  nobis 
Et  dici  potuisse  et  non  potuisse  refelli.' 

But  after  this  misfortune,  further  quarrels  between 
king  and  barons  were  useless,  and  Raymond  hastened 
to  make  his  submission.  He  met  the  king  at  the 
Castle  of  St.  George,  at  Ramleh,  where  a  reconciliation 
was  effected,  real  and  complete,  so  far  as  Raymond  was 
concerned,  half-hearted  and  suspicious  on  the  part  of 
the  weak-minded  king. 

Raymond,  whose  advice  was  generally  sound,  recom- 
mended Guy  to  convoke  all  the  forces  of  his  disposition, 
and  meet  at  the  fountain  of  Sefuriyeh.  He  also  advised 
that  the  wood  of  the  Cross  should  be  brought  out  by 
Heraclius,  as  the  emergency  was  great.  Heraclius, 
who  was  afraid,  and  probably  foresaw  disaster,  declined 
to  come,  alleging  illness,  but  sent  it  by  two  of  his 
bishops. 

Meantime,  the  king,  by  permission  of  the  Master  of 
the  Templars,  had  laid  hands  upon  the  treasure  which 
Henry  II.  of  England  had  sent  year  by  year,  since  the 
death  of  Thomas-a-Becket,  to  be  used  when  he  should 
find  time  to  accomplish  his  vow  of  a  crusade.  By 
means  of  this  money  Guy  found  himself,  when  Saladin 
sat  down  before  Tiberias,  at  the  head  of  the  finest 
army  which  had  marched  under  the  banner  of  the 
Cross  since  Godfrey  besieged  Jerusalem.  The  Countess 
of  Tripoli  was  in  Tiberias,  with  her  four  sons,  all 
knights.  She  wrote  to  Guy,  saying  that  unless  as- 
sistance   came    she    must   surrender   the   place.     Guy 


LA  ST  EXPEDITION  FROM  JERUSALEM.  389 

called  a  council  and  read  the  letter.  Raymond  was 
the  first  to  advise. 

'  Sir,'  he  said,  'let  them  take  Tiberias,  and  I  will  tell 
you  why.  The  city  is  mine,  and  my  wife  is  in  it ;  if  it 
is  lost,  no  one,  therefore,  will  lose  so  much  as  I.  But 
if  the  Saracens  take  it,  they  will  occupy  it,  and  will  not 
come  here  after  us,  and  then  I  shall  get  it  back  again 
whenever  I  please.  Now,  I  prefer  to  lose  my  city  for  a 
time  than  that  the  whole  country  should  be  lost,  and 
between  this  place  and  Tiberias  there  is  not  a  drop  of 
water.     We  shall  all  die  of  thirst  before  we  get  there.' 

Thereupon,  quoth  the  Master  of  the  Templars, 
'  Here  is  some  of  the  hair  of  the  wolf.'  But  Raymond 
took  no  notice  of  this  offensive  remark.  '  If  it  is  not 
exactly  as  I  have  said,'  he  went  on,  '  take  my  head  and 
cut  it  off.' 

All  agreed  that  the  advice  given  was  sound  and  just, 
except  the  Master  of  the  Templars,  who  in  his  blind 
rage  against  Raymond  could  not  agree  that  anything 
he  said  was  right.  And  in  the  night  he  went  to  the 
king's  tent,  just  as  he  was  going  to  bed.  '  Do  you 
believe,'  he  said,  '  in  the  advice  of  Raymond  ?  It  was 
given  for  the  sole  purpose  of  bringing  shame  and 
disgrace  upon  us  all.  .  .  .  Strike  your  tents,  call  to 
arms,  and  march  at  once.' 

The  king,  who  owed  to  this  man  his  crown,  and  the 
money  with  which  the  army  was  raised,  obeyed 
immediately,  and  to  the  grief  and  surprise  of  the 
barons,  the  order  was  given  to  break  up  the  camp. 
And  on  this  sad  night,  the  1st  of  July,  1187,  the 
Christian  host  marched  in  silence  and  sadness  to  its 
fate. 

The  Count  of  Tripoli  led  the  first  division ;  in  the 
centre  was  the  king  with  the  Holy  Cross,  borne  by  the 


39o  JERUSALEM. 


Bishops  of  Acre  and  Lydda ;  and  the  Templars,  with 
Balian  of  Ibelin,  brought  up  the  rear.  The  whole 
army  consisted  of  twelve  hundred  knights,  a  con- 
siderable body  of  light  horse,  and  about  twenty 
thousand  foot.  The  words  of  Count  Raymond  proved 
exactly  true :  there  was  no  water  at  all  on  the  way. 
The  Christians  were  harassed  by  the  Turkish  cavalry, 
by  the  heat  of  the  day,  by  the  clouds  of  dust,  and  by 
the  burning  of  the  grass  under  their  feet,  which  was 
set  fire  to  by  the  enemy  as  they  marched  along.  They 
halted  for  the  night,  and  the  camp  of  the  Saracens  was 
so  close  to  that  of  the  Christians  that  '  you  could  have 
seen  a  cat  run  from  one  to  the  other.'  It  was  a  night 
of  dreadful  suffering  for  want  of  water,  and  when  the 
morning  dawned  some  of  those  who  could  bear  their 
sufferings  no  longer  went  over  to  the  camp  of  Saladin5 
and  threw  down  their  arms,  begging  for  a  drink  of 
water.  '  Sir,'  said  one  of  these  deserters  to  Saladin, 
'  fall  on  them — they  cannot  help  themselves — they  are 
all  dead  already.'  King  Guy,  in  hopes  of  ending  the 
sufferings  of  his  men  by  victory,  gave  the  signal  for 
the  battle  to  commence.  It  was  lost  as  soon  as  begun, 
for  men  who  had  not  quenched  their  thirst  for  nearly 
four-and-twenty  hours  had  no  Mast'  in  them.  The 
knights,  as  usual,  fought  manfully,  but  even  these  soon 
gave  way.  All  round  them  was  an  arid  plain  or  arid 
rocks,  while  beneath  their  feet,  and  hardly  a  mile 
away,  lay  the  calm  and  placid  Lake  of  Galilee, 
mocking  their  thirst  by  the  serenity  of  its  aspect. 
The  Holy  Cross  was  lost  in  the  midst  of  the  fight, 
and  when  the  news  went  through  the  army  there  was 
no  longer  any  hope.  Some  tossed  away  their  arms 
and  sat  down  to  be  killed  or  to  be  taken  prisoners ; 
some    threw    themselves    upon    the    swords    of    the 


BATTLE  OF  TIBERIAS. 


391 


Mohammedans.  A  little  band  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
knights  gathered  round  the  royal  standard  and  defended 
the  king  to  the  last.  Raymond,  with  Balian  of  Ibelin, 
and  a  few  more,  cut  their  way  through,  and  escaped  to 
Tyre ;  but  at  last  all  resistance  ceased,  and  King  Guy, 
his  brother  Geoffrey,  with  Renaud  de  Chatillon,  the 
Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  and  all  the  chivalry  of 
Palestine  that  were  not  killed,  were  taken  prisoners 
and  brought  before  Saladin. 


SEA   OF  GALILEE. 

As  for  the  wood  of  the  Holy  Cross,  a  very  old  story 
is  told.  Some  years  after  the  battle  of  Tiberias 
had  been  fought  and  lost,  it  is  said  that  a  brother 
of  the  Temple  came  to  Henry,  Count  of  Cham- 
pagne, and  told  him  that,  in  order  to  save  it  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Saracens,  he  had  him- 
self buried  it  with  his  own  hands,  and  that  he  knew 
where  to  look  for  it.  He  took  with  him  certain 
men  to  help  in  digging,  and  they  searched  for  three 


392  JERUSALEM. 

consecutive  nights,  but  failed  to  find  it.  So,  that  for  a 
time,  there  was  an  end  of  one  mischievous  imposture 
at  least. 

And  now  the  highest  ambition  of  Saladin  was  to  be 
crowned  with  success.  Of  all  the  holy  places  of  his 
religion,  only  one  was  more  sacred  than  Jerusalem.  It 
was  destined  for  him  to  restore  that  sacred  Dome  of  the 
Rock,  which  Abdel  Melek  had  built,  to  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  built,  and  to  remove  from  the  midst  of  the 
Mohammedan  Empire  that  hornets'  nest  of  Christians 
which,  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  had  checked  their 
conquests,  insulted  their  faith,  and  perpetually  done 
them  injury. 

The  gates  of  the  cities  of  Palestine  flew  open  at  the 
approach  of  the  conqueror.  Tiberias  yielded  at  once, 
and  Saladin  sent  Raymond's  wife  to  her  husband, 
Raymond,  however,  was  dying,  and  of  a  broken  heart. 
Almost  alone  among  the  chiefs,  he  had  still  some 
nobility  left,  and  he  could  not  bear  to  survive  the  fall 
of  the  country,  his  countty,  and  the  end  of  so  many 
high  hopes  and  glorious  achievements.  Acre  resisted 
two  days,  and  then  opened  its  gates.  Nablous, 
Ramleh,  Caesarea,  Jericho,  Jaffa,  Beyrout,  had  no 
knights  left  to  make  defence  with,  and  perforce 
capitulated.  Tyre,  Tripoli,  Ascalon,  alone  remained 
to  the  Christians.  Saladin  vainly  attempted  the  first, 
and  desisted  from  the  siege  for  more  important  matters. 
But  Ascalon  was  too  necessary,  in  consequence  of  its 
communications  with  Egypt,  to  be  passed  over,  and  he 
laid  siege  to  the  place  in  due  form.  Guy  was  with 
him,  in  fetters.  A  breach  was  effected  in  the  walls, 
and  Guy  was  put  forward  to  urge  upon  the  inhabitants 
not  to  make  a  useless  resistance.  These  sent  deputies 
to  the  sultan.     'On  these  conditions  only    shall  you 


BALIAN' S  PERJURY.  393 

enter  Ascalon,  except  across  our  bodies.  Give  life  to 
our  wives  and  children,  and  restore  the  king  to  liberty. 
Else  we  will  fight.'  Saladin  granted  the  conditions. 
Guy  was  to  be  set  at  liberty  within  a  year  ;  the  people 
of  Ascalon  were  to  leave  the  city  freely  and  to  carry 
with  them  all  that  they  pleased. 

And  now,  at  length,  came  the  turn  of  Jerusalem. 
Balian  of  Ibelin  had  obtained  of  Saladin  a  safe  conduct 
to  the  city,  in  order  to  take  out  his  wife  and  children, 
but  on  the  sole  condition  that  he  was  not  to  stay  there 
more  than  one  night.  He  promised,  and  went.  He 
found  the  city  defended  by  women  and  monks.  A  few 
pilgrims  were  there,  and  some  fugitive  soldiers  who 
had  escaped  the  slaughter  of  Tiberias.  The  people 
pressed  round  him  with  tears,  cries,  and  lamentations, 
when  he  told  them  of  his  word  given  to  Saladin.  '  Sir,' 
said  the  patriarch,  *  I  absolve  you  from  your  oath  ; 
know  well  it  would  be  a  greater  sin  to  keep  it  than  to 
break  it,  for  great  shame  would  it  be  for  you  and  for 
your  heirs,  if  you  were  thus  to  leave  the  city  in  its  hour 
of  danger.'  Then  Balian  of  Ibelin  yielded,  and  sent 
to  Saladin  that  he  had  been  forced  to  break  his  word. 
Saladin  by  this  time  was  used  to  the  perjury  of  Chris- 
tians. 

For  some  years  the  Mohammedans,  simple  in  their 
faith,  could  not  understand  a  religion  which  per- 
mitted the  most  solemn  treaties  to  be  broken  when- 
ever a  priest  could  be  prevailed  on  to  give  absolution 
for  the  perjury.  But  they  were  wiser  now.  Raymond 
and  Jocelyn,  Renaud  and  Amaury,  had  taught  them 
the  worth  of  a  Christian's  promise,  the  value  of  a 
Christian's  oath.  Still,  in  Balian's  case  there  was 
much  to  be  said.  It  was  not  in  human  nature  to 
resist  the  pleadings  of  the  women  and  the  sight  of  all 


394  JERUSALEM. 


these  helpless  beings  whose  fate  seemed  placed  in  his 
hands. 

There  were  only  two  knights  in  all  the  city.  Balian 
knighted  fifty  sons  of  the  bourgeois.  There  was  no 
money,  because  Guy  had  taken  it  all.  Balian  took  off 
the  silver  from  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  coined  it  into 
money  for  his  soldiers.  Every  day  all  the  men  that  he 
could  spare  rode  out  into  the  country  and  brought  in 
provisions,  of  which  they  might  have  direful  need, 
because  the  city  was  so  full  of  women  and  children 
that  the  houses  were  crowded  and  the  unfortunate 
creatures  were  lying  about  in  the  streets.  Some  sparks 
of  courage  lived  yet  among  the  defeated  soldiers,  and 
all  swore  to  defend  the  city  to  the  last.  Balian,  of 
course,  knew  perfectly  well  that  the  cause  was  hopeless, 
and  only  remained  to  make  what  terms  he  could  for  the 
people.  But  it  was  necessary  to  make  at  least  some 
resistance  for  the  sake  of  honour,  barren  honour  though 
it  might  be. 

Before  the  siege  began,  Saladin  sent  a  message  to 
the  city  to  the  effect  that  if  they  made  any  resistance 
he  had  sworn  to  enter  it  by  assault  only.  Before  this 
message,  and  after  the  taking  of  Ascalon,  his  offers 
were  such  as  nothing  but  the  most  extreme  confidence 
in  his  own  power  would  justify.  '  I  know,'  he  said, 
'that  Jerusalem  is  the  House  of  God:  that  is  a  part  of 
my  religion.  I  would  not  willingly  assail  the  House  of 
God,  if  I  can  get  possession  of  it  by  treaty  and  friend- 
ship. I  will  give  you  thirty  thousand  byzants  if  you 
promise  to  give  up  this  city.  You  shall  be  allowed  five 
miles  all  round  the  city  as  your  own  ground  to  cultivate 
and  use  as  you  please,  and  I  will  cause  such  an  abun- 
dance of  provisions  to  be  sent  in  that  yours  shall  be 
the  cheapest  market  in  the  world.     You  shall  have  a 


SIEGE  OF  THE  CITY.  395 

truce  from  now  to  Pentecost  ;  if,  after  that  time,  you 
seem  to  see  hope  of  success,  keep  your  town  if  you 
can  :  if  not,  give  it  up,  and  I  will  see  you  all  safe  and 
sound  on  Christian  soil.'  But  the  deputies  went  away 
with  many  boasts  that  they  were  going  to  die  for  the 
glory  of  God.  In  the  end,  nobody  died  who  could  by 
any  means  avoid  it.  But  at  first,  when  Saladin's  camp 
was  fixed  to  the  west,  where,  nearly  a  hundred  years 
before,  had  been  that  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  the 
Christians  made  gallant  sorties,  and  the  Saracens  could 
do  nothing  against  the  impetuosity  of  their  charges. 
They  observed,  however,  that  after  mid-day  the  sun 
was  at  their  own  backs  and  in  the  faces  of  the  enemy ; 
and  therefore  they  reserved  their  attacks  for  the  after- 
noon, throwing  dust  in  the  air  and  into  the  eyes  of  the 
besieged. 

After  eight  days  of  ineffectual  fighting,  Saladin 
changed  his  camp  to  the  east  side,  pitching  it  at  the 
gate  of  St.  Stephen,  where  the  valley  of  the  Kedron 
has  no  great  depth.  In  this  new  position,  Saladin  was 
able  to  erect  machines  for  casting  stones  and  arrows 
into  the  city.  He  also  set  his  men  to  work  under- 
mining the  walls.  In  two  days  they  had  undermined 
fifteen  toises  of  the  wall,  the  Christians  not  being 
able  to  countermine  '  because  they  were  afraid  of  the 
showers  and  missiles  from  the  mangonels  and 
machines.'  The  Saracens  fired  the  supports  of  their 
mines,  and  as  much  of  the  wall  as  had  been  mined  fell 
down. 

Then  the  besieged,  finding  that  no  hope  remained  of 
holding  the  town,  held  a  hasty  council  as  to  what 
should  be  done.  For  now  a  universal  panic  had  seized 
the  soldiers  ;  they  ran  to  the  churches  instead  of  to  the 
ramparts,  and  while  the  defenders  of  the  city  prayed 


396  JERUSALEM. 


within  the  walls  of  the  church,  the  priests  formed  pro- 
cessions and  walked  round  the  streets  chanting  psalms. 

Let  Bernard  the  Treasurer  tell  this  story  in  his  own 
words  : 

*  The  bourgeois,  knights,  and  men  of  arms,  in  the 
council,  agreed  that  it  would  be  better  to  sally  forth  and 
for  all  to  die.  But  the  patriarch  advised  them  to  the 
contrary.  "  Sirs,  if  there  were  no  other  way,  this 
would  be  good  advice,  but  if  we  destroy  ourselves  and 
let  the  lives  perish  which  we  may  save,  it  is  not  well, 
because  for  every  man  in  this  town  there  are  fifty 
women  and  children,  whom,  if  we  die,  the  Saracens  will 
take  and  will  convert  to  their  own  faith,  and  so  they 
will  all  be  lost  to  God.  But  if,  by  the  help  of  God,  we 
can  gain  permission,  at  least,  to  go  out  from  here  and 
betake  ourselves  to  Christian  soil,  that  would  seem  to 
me  the  better  course."  They  all  agreed  to  this  advice. 
Then  they  took  Balian  of  Ibelin  and  prayed  him  to  go 
to  Saladin  and  make  what  terms  of  peace  he  could.  He 
went  and  spoke  to  him.  And  while  he  was  yet  speaking 
with  Saladin  about  delivering  up  the  city,  the  Turks, 
bringing  ladders  and  fixing  them  against  the  walls, 
made  another  assault.  And,  indeed,  already  ten  or 
twelve  banners  were  mounted  upon  the  ramparts,  or 
had  entered  where  the  wall  had  been  undermined  and 
had  fallen  down.  When  Saladin  saw  his  men  and  his 
banners  on  the  walls,  he  said  to  Balian,  "  Why  do  you 
talk  to  me  about  delivering  up  the  city,  when  you  see 
my  people  ready  to  enter  ?  It  is  too  late  now ;  the  city 
is  mine  already."  And  even  while  they  spoke,  our  Lord 
gave  such  courage  to  the  Christians  who  were  on  the 
walls,  that  they  made  the  Saracens  thereon  give  way  and 
fall  to  the  ground,  and  chased  them  out  of  the  moat. 
Saladin,    when    he   saw  it,    was   much   ashamed   and 


FALL  OF  THE  CITY 


397 


troubled.  Then  he  said  to  Balian  that  he  might  go 
back,  because  he  would  do  nothing  more  at  the  time, 
but  that  he  might  come  again  the  next  day,  when  he 
would  willingly  listen  to  what  he  had  to  say.  .  .  .  The 
ladies  of  Jerusalem  took  cauldrons  and  placed  them 
before  Mount  Calvary,  and  having  filled  them  with  cold 
water,  put  their  daughters  in  them  up  to  the  neck,  and 
cut  off  their  tresses,  and  threw  them  away.  Monks, 
priest,  and  nuns  went  bare-footed  round  the  wall  of  the 
city,  bearing  in  procession  the  said  Cross  before  them. 
The  priests  bore  on  their  heads  the  Corpus  Domini,  but 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  not  listen  to  any  prayer 
that  they  made,  by  reason  of  the  stinking  luxury  and 
adultery  in  the  city  which  prevented  any  prayer  from 
mounting  up  to  God.  .  .  .  When  Balian  came  to  Saladin, 
he  said  that  the  Christians  would  give  up  the  city  if 
their  lives  were  saved.  Saladin  replied  that  he  spoke 
too  late  ;  but  he  added,  "  Sir  Balian,  for  the  love  of  God 
and  of  yourself,  I  will  take  pity  on  them  in  a  manner, 
and,  to  save  my  oath  (that  he  would  only  take  them  by 
force),  they  shall  give  themselves  up  to  me  as  if  they 
were  taken  by  force,  and  I  will  leave  them  their  property 
to  do  as  they  please,  but  their  bodies  shall  be  my 
prisoners,  and  he  who  can  ransom  himself  shall  do  so, 
and  he  who  cannot  shall  be  my  prisoner."  "  Sire," 
said  Balian,  "  what  shall  be  the  price  of  the  ransom  ?" 
Saladin  replied  that  the  price  should  be  for  poor  and 
rich  alike,  for  a  man  thirty  byzants,  for  every  woman 
and  every  child,  ten.  And  whoever  could  not  pay  this 
sum  was  to  be  a  slave.  .  .  . 

'  Balian  went  back  with  these  hard  terms,  and  during 
the  night  prevailed  upon  the  Master  of  the  Knights 
Hospitallers  to  give  up,  for  the  ransom  of  the  poor,  all 
that  was  left  of  the  treasure  of  King  Henry  of  England. 


398  JERUSALEM. 


And  the  next  day  he  obtained  of  Saladin  a  reduction  of 
the  ransom  by  one  half. 

'Then  said  Balian  to  Saladin,  "Sire,  you  have  fixed 
the  ransom  of  the  rich ;  fix  now  that  of  the  poor, 
for  there  are  twenty  thousand  who  cannot  pay  the 
ransom  of  a  single  man.  For  the  love  of  God  put  in  a 
little  consideration,  and  I  will  try  to  get  from  the 
Temple,  the  Hospitallers,  and  the  bourgeois  as  much  as 
will  deliver  all."  Saladin  said  that  he  would  willingly 
have  consideration,  and  that  a  hundred  thousand 
byzants  should  let  all  the  poor  go  free.  "  Sire,"  said 
Balian,  "  when  all  those  who  are  able  have  ransomed 
themselves,  there  will  not  be  left  half  of  the  ransom 
which  you  demand  for  the  poor."  Saladin  said  that  it 
should  not  be  otherwise.  Then  Balian  bethought  him 
that  he  should  not  make  so  cheap  a  bargain  by  ransom- 
ing all  together  as  if  he  ransomed  part  at  a  time,  and 
that  by  the  help  of  God  he  might  get  the  rest  at  a 
cheaper  rate.  Then  he  asked  Saladin  for  how  much  he 
would  deliver  seven  thousand  men.  "  For  fifty  thousand 
byzants."  "Sire,"  said  Balian,  "that  cannot  be;  for 
God's  sake  let  us  have  reason." 

'  It  was  finally  arranged  that  seven  thousand  men 
should  be  ransomed  for  thirty  thousand  byzants,  two 
women  or  ten  children  to  count  as  one  man.  When 
all  was  arranged,  Saladin  gave  them  fifty  days  to  ! 
sell  and  mortgage  their  effects  and  pay  their  ransom, 
and  announced  that  he  who  should  be  found  in  the  city 
after  fifty  days  should  belong  to  the  conquerors,  body 
and  goods. 

'  All  the  gates  were  closed  except  that  of  David. 
Guards  were  placed  at  this  to  prevent  any  Christian 
from  going  out,  the  Saracens  being  admitted  to  buy  what 
the  Christians  had  to  sell.     The  day  on  which  the  city 


FALL  OF  TFIE  CLTY.  399 

was  given  up  was  Friday,  the  2nd  day  of  October,  1187. 
Saladin  placed  officers  in  the  town  of  David  to  receive 
the  ranson,  and  ordered  that  no  delay  was  to  be  granted 
beyond  the  fifty  days.  The  patriarch  and  Balian  went 
immediately  to  the  Hospital  and  carried  away  the 
thirty  thousand  byzants  for  the  ransom  of  the  poor. 
When  this  was  paid  they  summoned  the  bourgeois  of 
the  city,  and,  choosing  from  their  body  the  two  most 
trustworthy  men  of  each  street,  they  made  them  swear 
on  the  relics  of  saints  that  they  would  spare  neither 
man  nor  woman  through  hatred  or  through  love,  but 
would  make  one  and  all  declare  on  oath  what  they  had, 
and  would  allow  them  to  keep  back  nothing,  but  would 
ransom  the  poor  with  what  remained  after  their  own 
ransoms  had  been  paid.  They  took  down  the  number 
of  the  poor  in  each  street,  and  making  a  selection,  they 
made  up  the  number  of  seven  thousand,  who  were 
allowed  to  go  out  of  the  city.  Then  there  was  hardly 
anything  left  for  the  remainder.  .  .  .  But  when  all 
those  who  were  ransomed  were  out  of  the  city,  and  there 
remained  yet  many  poor  people,  Seif-ed-din  went  to 
Saladin,  his  brother,  and  said  to  him,  "  Sire,  I  have 
helped  to  conquer  the  land  and  the  city.  I  pray  you  to 
give  me  a  thousand  slaves  of  those  that  are  still  within 
it."  Saladin  asked  him  what  he  would  do  with  them. 
Seif-ed-din  replied  that  he  would  do  with  them  as 
seemed  him  best.  Saladin  granted  his  request,  and  his 
brother  released  them  all.  When  Seif-ed-din  had 
taken  out  his  thousand  captives,  the  patriarch  prayed 
Saladin  to  deliver  the  poor  which  yet  remained.  He 
gave  the  patriarch  seven  hundred.  Then  Balian  asked 
Saladin  for  some  of  those  left.  He  gave  Balian  five 
hundred.  "And  now,"  said  Saladin,  "  I  will  make  my 
alms."     Then  he  commanded  his  bailiffs  to  open  the 


4oo  JERUSALEM. 


postern  towards  Saint  Lazarus,  and  to  make  proclama- 
tion through  all  the  city  that  the  poor  might  go  out  by 
this  way,  only  that  if  there  were  among  them  any  who 
had  the  means  of  ransom,  they  were  to  be  taken  to 
prison.  The  deliverance  of  the  poor  lasted  from  sun- 
rise to  sunset,  and  yet  there  were  eleven  thousand 
left.  The  patriarch  and  Balian  went  then  to  Saladin 
and  prayed  him  that  he  would  hold  themselves  in 
hostage  until  those  who  were  left  could  obtain  from 
Christendom  enough  to  pay  their  ransom.  Saladin  said 
that  he  would  certainly  not  receive  two  men  in  place 
of  eleven  thousand,  and  that  they  were  to  speak  no 
more  of  it.' 

But  Saladin  was  open  to  prayers  from  all  quarters. 
The  widows  and  children  of  those  who  had  fallen  at 
Tiberias  came  to  him  weeping  and  crying.  '  When 
Saladin  saw  them  weeping,  he  was  moved  with  great 
pity ;  and,  hearing  who  they  were,  he  told  them  to 
inquire  if  their  husbands  and  fathers  were  yet  living, 
and  in  prison  ;  those  who  were  his  captives  he  ordered 
to  be  released ;  and,  in  those  cases  where  it  was  proved 
that  their  husbands  were  dead,  he  gave  largely  from 
his  own  private  purse  to  all  the  ladies  and  the  noble 
maidens,  so  that  they  gave  thanks  to  God  for  the 
honour  and  wealth  that  Saladin  bestowed  upon  them.' 
Clearly  a  most  magnanimous  prince,  this  Saladin,  and 
one  who  was  accustomed  to  return  good  for  evil. 

There  were  so  many  Christians  who  came  out  of  the 
city  that  the  Saracens  marvelled  how  they  could  have 
all  got  in.  Saladin  separated  them  into  three  divisions  ; 
the  Templars  led  one,  the  Hospitallers  another,  and 
Balian  the  third.  To  each  troop  he  assigned  fifty  of 
his  own  knights  to  conduct  them  into  Christian 
territory.  .  .  .  These,  when  they  saw  men,  women,  or 


END  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  40 1 

children  fatigued,  would  make  their  squires  go  on  foot, 
and  put  the  wearied  exiles  on  horseback,  while  they 
themselves  carried  the  children.  Surely  this  is  a 
tender  and  touching  picture  of  the  soft-hearted  soldiers 
of  Islam,  too  pitiful  to  let  the  little  children  cry  while 
they  had  arms  to  carry  them,  or  to  drive  the  weary 
forward  while  they  could  walk  on  foot  themselves. 

When  the  exiles  got  to  Tripoli  they  found  themselves 
worse  off  than  on  the  march.  Raymond  would  not  let 
them  enter,  but  sent  out  his  knights,  who  caught  all 
the  rich  bourgeois,  and  brought  them  prisoners  into  the 
city.  Then  Raymond  deprived  them  of  all  that  they 
had  brought  out  of  Jerusalem.  The  poorer  of  them 
dispersed  into  Armenia  and  the  neighbouring  countries, 
and  disappear  from  history.  The  names  of  the 
Christians  linger  yet,  however,  in  the  Syrian  towns, 
and  many  of  their  descendants,  long  since  converted 
to  the  faith  of  the  country,  may  be  found  in  every  town 
and  village  between  Antioch  and  Ascalon. 

Jerusalem  was  fallen,  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Christians  was  at  last  at  an  end.  It  had  lasted  eighty- 
eight  years.  It  had  seen  the  exploits  of  six  valiant, 
prudent,  and  chivalrous  kings.  It  was  supported  during 
all  its  existence  solely  by  the  strength  and  ability 
of  these  kings ;  it  fell  to  pieces  at  once  when  its 
king  lost  his  authority  with  his  strength.  Always 
corrupt,  always  self-seeking,  the  Christians  of  the  East 
became  a  by-word  and  proverb  at  last  for  treachery, 
meanness,  and  cowardice.  It  was  time  that  a  realm 
so  degraded  from  its  high  and  lofty  aims  should 
perish ;  there  was  no  longer  any  reason  why  it  should 
continue  to  live;  the  Holy  City  might  just  as  well  be 
held  by  the  Saracens,  for  the  Christians  were  not 
worthy.     They  had  succeeded  in  trampling  the  name 

26 


4Q2  JERUSALEM. 


of  Christian  in  the  dust ;  the  Cross  which  they  protected 
was  their  excuse  for  every  treachery  and  baseness  which 
a  licentious  priest  could  be  bribed  to  absolve.  The 
tenets  and  precepts  of  their  faith  were  not  indeed 
forgotten  by  them,  for  they  had  never  been  known ; 
there  was  nothing  in  their  lives  by  which  the  Saracens 
could  judge  the  religion  of  Christ  to  be  aught  but  the 
blindest  worship  of  a  piece  of  wood  and  a  gilded  cross ; 
while  the  worst  among  them — the  most  rapacious,  the 
most  luxurious,  the  most  licentious,  the  most  haughty, 
the  most  perjured — were  the  very  men,  the  priests 
and  the  knights  of  the  orders,  sworn  to  chastity,  to 
self-denial,  to  godliness.  Christianity  might  have 
had  a  chance  in  the  East  against  Islam  but  for  the 
Christians ;  and  had  men  like  Saladin  been  able  to 
comprehend  what  was  the  religion  which,  like  an 
ancient  painting  begrimed  and  overladen  with  dirt  and 
dust,  lay  under  all  the  vices  and  basenesses  of  the 
Christianity  they  witnessed,  the  world  would  at  least 
have  been  spared  some  of  the  bitterness  of  its  religious 
wars. 

As  for  Guy  de  Lusignan,  it  matters  very  little  what 
became  of  that  poor  creature.  He  made  one  or  two 
feeble  attempts  to  get  back  something  of  his  kingdom, 
but  always  failed.  He  finally  sold  his  title  to  King 
Richard,  in  exchange  for  that  of  King  of  Cyprus,  and 
ruled  in  great  tranquillity  in  his  new  kingdom  for  a 
year  or  so,  when  he  died. 

So  disastrous  an  event  as  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  must 
needs  be  accompanied  by  signs  and  wonders  from 
heaven.  On  the  day  that  the  city  surrendered,  one  of 
the  monks  of  Argenteuil,  as  he  remembered  afterwards, 
saw  the  moon  descend  from  heaven  to  earth.  It  is  re- 
markable that  nothing  was  said  at  the  time  of  this  very 


SIGNS  AND  OMENS.  403 

curious  phenomenon.  In  many  churches  the  crucifixes 
shed  tears  of  blood,  which  was  their  customary  and 
recognised  way  of  expressing  regret  when  the  monks 
thought  anything  was  going  wrong  with  the  power  of 
the  Church.  And  a  Christian  knight,  name  unknown, 
saw  in  a  dream,  as  he  afterwards  remembered,  an  eagle 
flying  over  an  army,  holding  seven  javelins  in  its  claws, 
and  crying,  *  Woe,  woe  to  Jerusalem  !' 


26 — 2 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    THIRD    CRUSADE. 

1  Signor,  saciez,  ki  or  ne  s'en  ira 

En  cele  terre,  u  Diex  fu  mors  et  vis, 
Etxki  la  crois  d'outre  mer  ni  prendra 
A  paines  mais  ira  en  paradis.' 

Thibault  de  Champagne. 

We  are  not  writing  a  history  of  the  Crusades,  and 
must  hasten  over  all  those  episodes  in  the  long  struggle 
of  three  hundred  years  which  do  not  immediately  con- 
cern the  Holy  City.  It  is  with  regret  that  one  turns 
from  the  glowing  pages  of  Vinsauf,  Villehardouin,  and 
Joinville,  with  the  thought  that  they  have  little  to  do 
with  our  subject,  and  that  we  must  perforce  leave 
them  for  other  pastures,  not  so  fair.*  But  a  few 
words  to  show  the  progress  of  events,  if  it  is  only  to 
make  us  understand  the  story  of  Saladin,  are  indis- 
pensable. 

The  news  of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  was  received  in 
Europe  with  a  thrill  of  horror  and  indignation.  From 
every  pulpit,  preachers  thundered  in  the  ears  of  the 

*  Why  has  no  English  historian  treated  of  the  Crusades  ? 
Besides  the  scattered  notices  in  Milman,  and  the  meagre  book  of 
Mills,  there  is  only  the  work  of  Keightley,  meritorious  in  its  way, 
but  as  dry  as  sawdust ;  spoiled,  too,  by  the  accident  that  it  was 
written  for  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge, 
so  that  the  author  is  always  horribly  afraid  of  saying  something 
which  miffht  offend  the  Committee. 


TITHE  OF  SALADIN.  405 

stupefied  people  the  intelligence  that  the  city  for  which 
so  much  had  been  risked  and  spent  was  fallen,  and  that 
it  was  the  judgment  of  God  upon  the  sins  of  the 
world.  Terrified  and  conscience-stricken,  all  Europe 
repented  and  reformed.  Luxury  was  abandoned, 
mortifications  and  self-denial  were  practised ;  every 
sinner  looked  on  the  fall  of  the  city  as  partly  caused 
by  himself;  nothing  but  prayers  and  lamentation  were 
heard  through  all  the  cities  of  Western  Europe.  And 
then  when  Pope  Gregory  sent  his  circular  letter  ex- 
horting the  faithful  to  take  up  arms  for  the  recovery 
of  Jerusalem,  and  when  William  of  Tyre,  eloquent, 
noble  in  appearance,  illustrious  for  learning  and  for 
virtues,  came  to  Europe  to  pray  for  help,  in  the  name 
of  Christianity,  kings  forgot  their  quarrels,  nobles  their 
ambitions,  and  it  seemed  as  if,  once  more,  the  cry  of 
1  Dieu  le  veut '  would  burst  spontaneously  from  the 
whole  of  Western  Europe.  It  might  have  done  had 
there  been  a  man  with  the  energy  and  eloquence  of 
Peter  the  Hermit.  But  the  moment  of  enthusiasm 
was  allowed  to  pass,  and  Philip  Augustus,  after  taking 
the  Cross,  delayed  his  Crusade,  while  he  renewed  his 
quarrel  with  Henry  II. 

In  England  and  in  France,  in  order  to  defray 
expenses,  a  tax  called  the  Tithe  of  Saladin,  consisting 
of  a  tenth  part  of  all  their  goods,  was  levied  on  every 
person  who  did  not  take  the  Cross.  The  clergy,  with 
their  usual  greed,  endeavoured  to  evade  the  tax,  on  the 
ground  that  the  Church  must  keep  her  property  in 
order  to  preserve  her  independence.  They  were  over- 
ruled, however,  and  had  all  to  pay,  except  a  few  of  the 
poorer  orders,  and  the  Lepers'  Hospitals.  In  every 
parish  the  Tithe  of  Saladin  was  raised  in  the  presence 
of  a  priest,  a  Templar,  a  Hospitaller,  a  king's  man,  a 


406  JERUSALEM. 


baron's  man  and  clerk,  and  a  bishop's  clerk.  As  this 
did  not  produce  enough,  Philip  Augustus  arrested  all 
the  Jews,  and  forced  them  to  pay  five  thousand  marks 
of  silver.  In  order  to  prevent  such  a  rush  of  villagers 
as  might  lead,  as  it  had  already  led,  to  the  desertion 
of  the  fields,  everyone  had  to  pay  the  tithe  except 
those  who  took  the  Cross  with  the  permission  of  their 
seigneur.  And  when  the  money  had  all  been  collected, 
war  broke  out  again  between  the  two  Kings  of  France 
and  England.  Peace  was  made  between  them  by  aid 
of  the  pope's  legate,  but  Henry  died  in  the  midst  of  his 
preparations.  Richard  saw  in  the  death  of  his  father 
the  consequence  of  his  own  unfilial  conduct,  and  took 
the  Cross  as  a  sign  of  his  unfeigned  repentance.  Bald- 
win, Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  preached  the  Crusade 
throughout  England.  It  was  the  first  time  that  it  had 
been  preached  here,  and  the  old  enthusiasm  of  the 
French  was  aroused  among  the  English.  All  wanted 
to  take  the  Cross  ;  wives  hid  their  husbands' 
clothes ;  they  ran  naked  to  Baldwin.  Everywhere  all 
sorts  of  miracles  took  place ;  the  people  gathered  the 
very  dust  which  the  bishop  had  trodden  on  as  a  holy 
relic  ;  they  flocked  together  from  every  part  of  England, 
Wales,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  and  if  the  numbers  were 
less  than  those  which  went  from  France,  it  was  because 
a  selection  was  made,  and  only  those  went  who  obtained 
permission  to  go.  The  religious  zeal  of  the  English 
found  its  first  exercise  in  the  famous  massacre  of  the 
Jews.  From  them  Richard  got  large  sums  of  money, 
and  as,  with  all  his  resources,  he  could  not  get  enough, 
he  mortgaged  a  large  part  of  his  estates,  sold  the 
dignities  of  the  crown,  and  was  quite  ready  to  sell 
the  city  of  London  itself,  could  he  have  found  a  pur- 
chaser. 


RICHARD'S  CRUSADE.  407 

In  one  respect  this  Crusade  started  with  far  better 
prospects  of  success  than  any  which  had  preceded  it. 
They  went  by  sea,  thus  avoiding  the  horrible  sufferings 
inevitable  in  crossing  Asia  Minor  ;  and  they  established 
a  code  of  laws,  to  maintain  discipline  and  order  in  the 
army.  Whosoever  struck  another  was  to  be  dipped 
three  times  in  the  sea  ;  whosoever  drew  his  sword  upon 
another  was  to  have  his  right  hand  cut  off;  whosoever 
swore  at  another  was  to  be  fined  an  ounce  of  silver  for 
every  oath  ;  if  a  man  were  convicted  of  theft  he  was 
to  be  shaven,  hot  pitch  was  to  be  poured  on  his  head, 
which  was  then  covered  with  feathers,  and  he  was 
to  be  put  upon  the  nearest  shore ;  while  if  a  man 
murdered  another,  he  was  to  be  tied  to  the  corpse,  and 
both  bodies  thrown  together  into  the  sea.  No  woman 
was  to  go  with  the  Crusaders  at  all,  save  such  as  were 
necessary  for  the  service  of  the  camp,  and  those  only  who 
were  of  sufficient  age  to  be  above  suspicion.  No  one 
was  to  practise  gaming  in  any  shape  whatever  ;  and  all 
luxury  in  dress  or  in  the  table  was  forbidden.  Thus 
the  army  started  with  the  most  admirable  intentions 
as  regards  virtue.  It  was  to  be  a  camp  where  there  was 
no  vice,  no  gaming,  no  swearing,  no  violence — under 
penalties  of  boiling  pitch  and  feathers,  abandonment 
on  a  savage  coast,  the  loss  of  the  right  hand. 

Richard  started  from  Marseilles ;  Philip  Augustus 
from  Genoa ;  Frederick  Redbeard  from  Germany 
followed  the  old  course  of  Bulgaria  and  Asia  Minor. 
He  had  with  him  a  hundred  thousand  men;  and  he 
refused  to  allow  any  man  to  join  the  army  who 
was  not  possessed  of  at  least  three  marks  of  silver. 
Frederick  had  the  courtesy  to  send  an  ambassador  to 
Saladin,  announcing  his  intention  of  making  war  upon 
him. 


4o8  JERUSALEM. 

He  fought  his  way  across  Asia  Minor  to  Iconium, 
which  surrendered.  The  old  terror  which  Godfrey  and 
Baldwin  had  been  able  to  inspire  among  the  Saracens 
was  inspired  again  by  Frederick.  The  Mohammedans 
expected  his  arrival  in  Syria  with  the  liveliest  appre- 
hensions. But  he  never  got  there,  for  bathing 
in  the  River  Selef  he  was  seized  with  a  chill,  and 
died.  After  his  death  large  numbers  of  his  men  de- 
serted ;  the  rest  fought  their  way  under  the  Duke 
of  Swabia;  and  at  length,  out  of  the  one  hundred 
thousand  who  had  followed  Frederick,  there  entered 
into  Palestine  six  hundred  horse  and  five  thousand  foot. 

Saladin,  meantime,  had  besieged  Tyre  and  Tripoli, 
both  ineffectually.  He  had,  however,  got  possession  of 
the  strong  post  of  Kerak,  after  a  siege  of  more  than  a 
year.  The  Christian  defenders  actually  sold  their  wives 
and  children  to  the  besiegers,  in  order  to  save  them 
from  starvation.  Saladin — more  chivalrous  than  any 
Christian  knight — gave  them  back  again  after  the  capi- 
tulation. He  also,  in  1189,  two  years  after  his  capture, 
restored  liberty  to  Guy  de  Lusignan,  on  his  taking  a 
solemn  oath  never  to  go  to  war  with  him.  Guy  swore, 
and  directly  after  he  returned  to  Christian  soil  got  the 
oath  annulled,  and  returned  to  besiege  Acre.  This  was 
the  crime  which,  above  all  things,  enraged  the  Saracens, 
and  made  a  man  like  Saladin  unable  to  understand 
a  religion  which  permitted  it.  Here  was  a  captive  king 
released  from  his  prison  by  the  clemency  of  his  con- 
queror, and  without  ransom,  solely  on  the  condition 
that  he  would  leave  it  to  others  to  make  war  upon  him. 
Yet  the  very  first  thing  he  does  is  to  break  his  oath,  and 
get  up  an  army  to  attack  him.  Conrad  de  Mont- 
ferrat,  who  was  in  Tyre,  refused  to  admit  Guy,  not 
thinking  it  necessary  to  acknowledge  a  king  who  was 


FIRST  BATTLE.  409 


unable  to  defend  himself.  But  Guy,  who  was  not 
without  courage,  found  means  to  raise  a  small  army, 
and  with  it  sat  down  before  Acre.  He  nearly  took  it  by 
assault,  when  an  alarm  was  spread  that  Saladin  was 
coming,  and  his  men  fled  in  a  panic.  It  was  not  Saladin 
who  was  coming  from  the  land,  but  the  first  reinforcement 
of  the  Crusaders  from  the  sea.  The  Frisians  and 
Danes,  twelve  thousand  in  number,  came  first,  and 
camped  with  Guy.  Next  came  the  English  and  the 
Flemings.  And  then  Saladin,  becoming  aware  of  the 
new  storm  that  was  rising  against  him,  came  down  from 
Phoenicia,  and  prepared  to  meet  it.  Every  day  the 
Crusaders  arrived  ;  before  Richard  and  Philip  were  even 
on  their  way  there  were  one  hundred  thousand  of  them, 
and  the  hearts  of  the  Mohammedans  sank  when  they 
beheld  a  forest  of  masts,  always  changing,  always  being 
renewed  as  the  ships  went  away  and  others  came.  The 
Christians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  confident  of 
success  ;  a  French  knight,  looking  on  the  mighty  host 
about  him,  is  reported  to  have  cried  out,  blasphemously 
enough,  '  If  God  only  remains  neuter  the  victory  is 
ours.'  Saladin  forced  on  a  battle,  and  experienced  a 
disastrous  defeat.  The  Saracens  fled  in  all  directions, 
and  already  the  Christians  were  plundering  their  camp, 
when  a  panic  broke  out  among  them.  Without  any 
enemy  attacking  them,  they  threw  away  their  arms,  and 
fled.  Saladin  stopped  his  men,  and  turned  upon  them. 
The  rout  was  general,  and  victory  remained  with 
Saladin,  but  a  victory  which  he  could  not  follow 
up,  in  consequence  of  the  confusion  into  which  his 
camp  had  been  thrown.  He  withdrew,  and  the 
Crusaders,  recovering  from  their  panic,  set  to  work, 
fortifying  their  camp,  and  besieging  Acre.  They  passed 
thus  the  winter  of  1 189-90,  without  any  serious  success, 


4io  JERUSALEM. 


and  contending  always  against  Greek  fire,  which  the 
besieged  threw  against  their  movable  towers.  In  the 
spring  came  Saladin  again;  the  Crusaders  demanded 
to  be  led  against  the  Saracens,  the  chiefs  refused ;  the 
soldiers  revolted,  and  poured  forth  against  the  enemy, 
only  to  experience  another  defeat,  exactly  similar  to  the 
first.  And  then  the  leaders,  despondent  at  their  ill- 
success,  endeavoured  to  make  peace  with  Saladin, 
when  the  arrival  of  Henry,  Count  of  Champagne, 
followed  by  that  of  Frederick,  Duke  of  Swabia,  raised 
their  hopes  again.  But  then  came  famine,  winter,  and 
disease.  Worse  than  all  these,  came  dissension. 
Queen  Sybille  died  with  her  two  children.  Conrad  of 
Tyre  resolved  to  break  the  marriage  of  her  sister 
Isabelle,  now  the  heiress  to  the  crown  of  Jerusalem,  with 
Humphry  de  Toron,  and  to  marry  her  himself.  He 
did  so,  and  claimed  the  throne  ;  so  that  the  camp  was 
split  into  two  parties,  that  of  Guy,  and  that  of  Conrad. 
It  was  resolved  to  submit  the  matter  to  the  arbitration 
of  the  Kings  of  England  and  France.  The  two  kings 
were  quarrelling  on  their  way.  Richard  refused  to 
espouse  Alice,  Philip's  sister,  to  whom  he  was  betrothed, 
and  married  in  her  place  Berengaria.  He  further 
offended  Philip  by  his  conduct  in  Sicily,  and  by  his 
conquest  of  Cyprus,  which  island  he  refused  to  share 
with  Philip.  Of  course,  therefore,  directly  Richard 
declared  for  Guy,  Philip  took  the  part  of  Conrad  ;  and 
it  was  not  till  after  long  discussions  that  it  was  decided 
that  Guy  should  hold  the  crown  during  his  life,  after 
which  it  was  to  descend  to  Conrad  and  his  children. 
Then  both  kings  fell  ill ;  Saladin  also  was  ill,  with  con- 
tinual fevers,  and  constant  messages  were  sent  to  and 
from  the  Christian  and  Saracen  monarchs,  which  were 
construed    by   the    savage   soldiers   into   proposals   of 


BA  TTLE  OF  A  SSUR.  411 

treachery.  Acre  fell,  after  a  two  years'  siege,  and  the 
loss  of  sixty  thousand  Christians  by  the  Saracens' 
sword.  Philip  went  home  after  this,  and  Richard, 
pleased  to  be  left  without  a  rival,  began  his  ferocious 
course  in  Palestine  by  the  cold-blooded  slaughter  of 
two  thousand  seven  hundred  Saracens. 

From  Acre,  after  a  short  rest,  devoted  to  those  very 
pleasures  against  which  such  stringent  edicts  had  been 
passed,  Richard  led  his  army  to  Csesarea.  In  the 
midst  was  a  sort  of  caroccio,  a  sacred  car,  in  which  was 
the  standard  of  the  Cross,  whither  the  wounded  were 
brought,  and  where  the  army  rallied.  The  Saracens 
hung  upon  the  march,  shooting  their  arrows  into  the 
ranks  of  the  Christians.  If  one  was  killed  he  was 
buried  there  and  then.  At  night,  when  the  camp  was 
fixed,  a  herald  cried  aloud  three  times,  to  remind  the 
soldiers  of  their  vows,  '  Lord,  help  the  Holy  Sepulchre  !' 
And  at  break  of  day  the  march  was  resumed.  They 
moved  slowly,  only  performing  about  ten  miles  a  day. 
And  then  came  the  great  battle  of  Assur,  when  Saladin 
lost  eight  thousand  of  his  men,  and  ought  to  have  lost 
Palestine,  if  Richard  had  been  as  good  a  Crusader  as  he 
was  a  general.  Had  they  marched  upon  Jerusalem 
there  was  nothing  in  their  way.  But  they  stopped  at 
Jaffa.  Richard  made  propositions  to  Saladin.  Would 
he  give  up  Jerusalem?  The  Saracens  replied  that  it 
was  impossible  to  abandon  a  city  whence  the  prophet 
had  mounted  to  heaven.  Then  Coeur  de  Lion  made  a 
proposition  which  called  forth,  to  his  extreme  astonish- 
ment— for  the  strong-armed  king  had  but  little  insight 
into  the  intricacies  of  theology — such  vehement  op- 
position that  he  was  forced  to  abandon  it.  It  was 
nothing  less  than  to  marry  his  sister  Jane,  widow  of 
William    of    Sicily,    to    El    Melik   el  "Adil,    Saladin's 


412  JERUSALEM. 


brother.  Both  were  to  govern  Jerusalem  together. 
El  Melik  el  "Adil,  who  was  on  terms  of  personal 
friendship  with  Richard,  was  perfectly  willing  to 
arrange  the  marriage ;  but  it  was  impossible  to  meet 
the  objections  of  imams  as  well  as  bishops,  and  the 
negotiations  were  broken  off,  Richard  proving  there- 
upon his  zeal  for  the  faith  by  murdering  his  captives. 
He  then  gave  orders  to  march,  declaring  that  he  was 
going  to  deliver  Jerusalem.  They  started,  but  on  the 
way  he  changed  his  resolution,  and  determined  to 
rebuild  Ascalon,  to  the  chagrin  and  even  despair  of  the 
common  soldiers.  And  then  the  chiefs  quarrelled. 
Peace  was  re-established.  Guy  de  Lusignan  was 
made  King  of  Cyprus,  and  Richard  gave  the  crown  of 
Jerusalem  to  Conrad  of  Tyre.  But  the  latter  was 
murdered  by  two  emissaries  of  the  sheikh  of  the 
Assassins,  *  the  old  man  of  the  mountains.'  Henry  of 
Champagne  then  married  his  widow  Isabelle,  and 
received  the  title  of  king. 

The  next  winter  passed,  and  in  the  spring  Richard, 
who  had  spent  his  time  in  small  skirmishes,  whence  he 
usually  returned  with  half  a  dozen  heads  at  his  saddle- 
bow, declared  his  intention  of  returning  to  Europe. 
He  was  persuaded  to  remain,  and  once  more  led  the 
army  in  the  direction  of  Jerusalem.  But  he  stopped 
some  twenty  miles  from  the  city.  And  the  army,  like 
the  people  of  Israel,  murmured  against  him.  There 
must,  it  seems  to  us,  have  been  some  secret  reason 
why  he  never  marched  upon  Jerusalem.  Could  it  have 
been  some  superstitious  one  ?  Joachim,  the  hermit  of 
Calabria,  had  prophesied  that  Jerusalem  should  be 
taken  seven  years  after  its  capture  by  Saladin.  It  was 
now  only  five  years.  Was  he  waiting  for  the  fulfilment 
of  the    prediction  ?      From    his   vacillation,    it   would 


SIGHT  OF  JERUSALEM.  413 

almost  appear  so.  One  day  he  rode  within  sight  of 
the  city.  And  then  this  great  knight,  this  type  of  his 
age ;  wild  beast  and  murderer,  in  and  after  battle ; 
illiterate  and  rude ;  yet  full  of  noble  impulses,  and 
generous  above  his  peers,  burst  into  bitter  weeping, 
and  covering  his  face  with  his  shield,  cried  aloud  that 
he  was  not  worthy  even  to  look  upon  the  city  of  his 
Saviour.  He  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  giving  up 
the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  we  are  right  in  our  conjecture  as  to  his  motives  for 
delay,  he  could  not  possibly,  with  everything  in  his  own 
kingdom  going  wrong  in  his  absence,  wait  two  years 
more.  He  shut  himself  up  in  his  tent  and  passed  hours 
alone,  with  pale  and  gloomy  countenance.  A  temporary 
relief  to  his  sorrow  was  afforded  by  the  successful 
cutting  off  of  the  caravans  which  were  going  to  Saladin 
from  Egypt.  He  got,  too,  a  piece  of  the  True  Cross, 
which  was  paraded  through  the  camp  with  great 
rejoicing. 

Then,  for  the  whole  army  looked  to  him  for  advice 
and  guidance,  he  called  a  council,  and  exposed  certain 
reasons  which  made  him  hesitate  before  advancing  on 
Jerusalem.  Of  these,  the  principal  were,  want  of 
knowledge  of  the  country,  and  its  arid  and  thirsty 
nature.  He  proposed  to  submit  the  matter  to  a 
council  of  twenty,  of  whom  half  should  be  Templars 
and  Hospitallers,  and  to  be  guided  by  their  advice  ;  but 
the  council  could  not  agree,  and  dissension  broke  out 
between  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  and  King  Richard. 
The  design  of  besieging  Jerusalem  was  given  up,  and 
the  army  slowly  and  sadly  returned  to  Ramleh,  and 
thence  to  Jaffa. 

A  peace  was  concluded  shortly  after  between  Richard 
and    Saladin,    in    which    it    was    agreed    to     destroy 


414  JERUSALEM. 


Ascalon  entirely,  by  the  joint  labour  of  Christians  and 
Mohammedans ;  the  Christians  were  to  have  all  the 
coast  between  Tyre  and  Joppa ;  peace  was  to  be 
enforced  in  the  north  of  Syria ;  pilgrimages  were  to  be 
freed  from  the  former  tax,  and  a  truce  for  two  years 
was  to  be  agreed  upon. 

The  English  Crusaders,  divided  into  three  bodies,  all 
went  up  unarmed  to  Jerusalem.  They  were  received 
with  kindness,  and  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  came 
last,  with  distinction,  being  entertained  by  Saladin 
himself,  who  showed  him  the  wood  of  the  True  Cross, 
and  granted  him,  as  a  favour,  that  two  Latin  priests 
should  be  permitted  to  serve  at  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre.  And  then,  all  being  arranged,  Richard 
embarked  at  Acre.  The  people  crowded  to  the 
shore,  weeping  and  crying  over  the  loss  of  their 
champion,  the  most  stalwart  warrior  that  ever  fought 
for  the  Cross.  The  king  himself  could  not  restrain  his 
tears.  Turning  to  bid  farewell  to  the  country,  he 
cried,  '  Oh,  Holy  Land !  God  grant  that  I  may  yet 
return  to  help  thee  !'  And  his  last  message  was  one  to 
Saladin,  telling  him  that  he  was  only  going  home  to 
raise  money  in  order  to  complete  the  conquest  of  the 
land.  'Truly,'  said  the  courtly  Saladin,  '  if  God  wills 
that  Jerusalem  pass  into  other  hands,  it  cannot  fall 
into  any  more  noble  than  those  of  the  brave  King 
Richard.' 

Such,  briefly  and  baldly  told,  is  the  picturesque 
Crusade  of  Cceur  de  Lion.  Of  the  terror  which  his 
name  inspired,  of  his  many  and  valiant  gests,  of  his 
personal  strength,  his  chivalrous  generosity,  we  have 
not  room  to  speak.  Nor  can  we  do  more  than  allude 
to  those  other  qualities  for  which  he  made  his  name 
known  :  his  ferocious  and  savage  cruelty  ;  his  pleasure 


CONCLUSION  OF  CRUSADE.  415 

in  fighting  for  love  of  mere  butchery ;  the  ungovern- 
able rage  which  sometimes  seized  him  ;  his  want  of 
consideration  for  others  ;  his  '  masterfulness  ;'  the  way 
in  which  he  trampled  on,  careless  over  whose  body  he 
passed,  provided  he  obtained  his  ends.  For  these,  and 
the  other  stories  which  can  be  told  about  him,  we  refer 
our  readers  to  the  chronicles,  and  to  that  book  on  the 
Crusades  which  has  yet  to  be  written. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SALADIN. 

4  Sans  peur  et  sans  reproche.' 

Saladin  has  already  appeared  upon  our  pages,  but 
hitherto  scarcely  more  than  incidentally.  Let  us 
relate  the  career  of  this  illustrious  prince,  as  told  by  the 
historians  of  his  own  nation. 

We  must  go  back  to  the  time  of  the  invasion  of 
Egypt  by  King  Amaury.  On  Shirkoh's  death,  many  of 
the  chief  officers  of  Nur-ed-din's  army  were  desirous  of 
succeeding  to  the  important  post  of  grand  vizier  ;  but 
the  caliph,  El  ''Adhid,  himself  sent  for  Saladin,  and 
conferred  the  office  upon  him,  together  with  many 
privileges  and  titles  of  honour.  (  He  was  designated  El 
Melik  en  Nasir,  '  the  Victorious  King,'  and  Sipah-salar, 
a  Persian  title,  signifying  generalissimo  of  the  army ; 
and  his  standard,  or  coat-of-arms,  was  placed  instead 
of  his  name  at  the  head  of  all  official  communications 
— a  form  made  use  of  only  in  the  case  of  royal  person- 
ages. In  writing  to  him,  however,  the  Egyptian 
caliph  did  not  address  his  letters  to  Saladin  individu- 
ally, but  inscribed  them  '  To  the  Emir  Saladin,  and  all 
the  princes  in  the  land  of  Egypt.'  This  was  doubtless 
in  order  to  assert  his  own  prerogative  and  superior 
authority ;    but  the  young  Kurd,   having   once  placed 


SAL  A  DIN'S  COUP  D'ETAT.  417 

his  foot  upon  the  steps  of  the  throne,  was  not  to  be 
deterred  from  mounting  to  the  summit  of  his  ambition 
by  mere  scruples  of  etiquette.  He  was,  moreover,  a 
rigid  follower  of  the  Shafi'ite  sect,  and  therefore  no 
friend  to  the  pretensions  of  the  sons  of  'Ali ;  indeed, 
he  had  already  received  the  commands  of  Nur-ed-din 
to  depose  the  Ismaelites  from  all  religious  and  judicial 
offices,  to  appoint  orthodox  doctors  in  their  stead,  and 
to  insert  the  name  of  the  Abbaside  Caliph  of  Baghdad 
in  the  Friday  prayer  in  the  place  of  that  of  the  Fatemite 
Caliph  of  Egypt. 

In  1 169  the  Franks  made  their  final  effort  for  the 
possession  of  Egypt,  and  besieged  Damietta ;  but 
Saladin  had  garrisoned  and  provisioned  the  town  so 
well  that  it  was  enabled  to  hold  out  until  a  fresh  attack 
by  Nur-ed-din  upon  the  Syrian  possessions  of  the 
Christians  compelled  them  to  abandon  the  attempt  and 
return  home  bootless.  The  next  year  Saladin  himself 
invaded  their  territory,  and,  after  plundering  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ascalon  and  Ramleh,  returned  to 
Egypt.  His  next  expedition  was  against  Ailah 
('Akabah),  which  he  blockaded  by  land  and  sea,  and 
conquered  with  little  difficulty. 

For  some  time  Saladin  was  prevented  from  carrying 
out  Nur-ed-din's  injunctions  respecting  the  abolition  of 
the  Fatemite  sect  and  authority,  through  fear  of  an 
insurrection  ;  but  towards  the  end  of  the  year  11 71  an 
opportunity  offered  itself  in  the  sudden  illness  of  El 
"Adhid  li  din  allah.  Of  this  Saladin  at  once  availed 
himself,  and  the  name  of  El  Mostadhi  bi  amr 
illah  was  solemnly  proclaimed  in  the  mosques  of 
Cairo. 

This  great  coup  d'etat,  which  won  Egypt  over  to  the 
orthodox  Mohammedan  sect,  and    ultimately   enabled 

27 


418  JERUSALEM. 


Saladin  to  grasp  the  independent  sovereignty  of  the 
country,  was  effected,  as  an  Arab  historian  quaintly 
observes,  '  so  quietly,  that  not  a  brace  of  goats  butted 
over  it.'  The  last  of  the  Fatemites  died  only  ten  days 
afterwards,  in  happy  ignorance  of  the  downfall  of  his 
dynasty.  The  news  was  hailed  with  great  demonstra- 
tions of  joy  in  Baghdad,  and  'Emad-ed-din  Sandal,  a 
confidential  servant  of  Saladin's,  was  despatched  to 
Cairo  with  dresses  of  honour  for  the  emir,  bearing  also 
the  black  flag,  the  famous  standard  of  the  house  of 
Abbas. 

But  Saladin  was  flying  at  higher  game ;  and  when 
news  reached  him  of  the  death  of  Nur-ed-din,  in 
August,  1174,  he  at  once  set  out  for  Damascus.  El 
Melik  es  Salih  Ismail,  who  had  succeeded  his  father 
upon  the  throne,  was  absent  at  Aleppo  when  Saladin 
arrived,  and  the  latter  established  himself  without 
opposition  in  the  government  of  the  town.  Hums  and 
Hamah  (the  Hamath  of  the  Bible)  next  yielded  to  his 
authority,  but  Aleppo  still  held  out,  and  warmly 
supported  the  cause  of  El  Melik  es  Salih,  the  legitimate 
heir  to  the  kingdom.  After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
reduce  the  place  by  blockade,  Saladin  made  terms  with 
his  rival,  and  each  agreed  to  leave  the  other  in  quiet 
possession  of  the  districts  of  Syria  which  he  then 
actually  held.  Having  concluded  this  arrangement,  he 
returned  to  Egypt.  El  Melik  es  Salih  died  in  1181,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  uncle,  'Ezz-ed-din  Masud,  who, 
however,  exchanged  by  mutual  consent  the  throne  of 
Aleppo  with  Maudud,  Lord  of  Sanjar. 

In  May,  1182,  Saladin  once  more  set  out  for 
Damascus,  ravaging  the  country  of  the  Crusaders  by 
the  way,  and  obtaining  a  large  amount  of  booty.  He 
never  afterwards   returned   to  Egypt,    but  from   that  je 


RENAUD  OF  KERAK.  419 

moment  devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  reconquering  the 
Holy  Land  for  the  Mussulmans. 

In  the  following  month  he  began  his  campaign,  and, 
pitching  at  Tiberias,  harassed  the  neighbourhood  of 
Beisan,  Jaibin,  and  the  Ghor,  causing  much  loss  to  the 
Christians,  both  of  property  and  life.  Beirut  and  the 
sea-coast  were  next  attacked,  and,  even  where  the  towns 
themselves  held  out,  the  country  around  suffered  severely 
from  his  depredations,  for  he  seldom  returned  empty- 
handed  from  a  raid. 

It  was  in  this  same  year  1182,  that  the  Frank  occu- 
pants of  Kerak  and  Shobek  determined  to  make  an 
expedition  against  Medinah  itself,  and  thus  to  attack 
the  Mohammedans  in  the  very  birthplace  and  strong- 
hold of  their  faith.  They  had  even  sworn  that  they 
would  dig  up  the  body  of  the  Prophet,  and  carry  it  off 
to  their  own  country,  in  order  to  put  a  stop  to  pilgrim- 
ages once  and  for  all.  That  this  was  no  idle  threat  was 
clear  from  the  fact  that  the  Prince  Renaud  of  Kerak 
had  caused  ships  to  be  constructed  and  carried  over- 
land to  the  Red  Sea,  and  that  troops  had  been  trans- 
ported in  these  vessels,  and  were  actually  on  their  way 
to  Medinah. 

Saladin  was  at  Hauran  when  the  news  of  the  intended 
invasion  reached  him.  He  was  furious  at  the  insult 
offered  to  his  religion,  and  sent  orders  to  his  lieutenant 
in  Egypt  to  despatch  the  Emir  Hisam-ed-din  Lulu  in 
pursuit  of  the  enemy.  The  Franks,  rather  more  than 
three  hundred  in  number,  besides  a  body  of  rebellious 
Bedawin  which  had  joined  their  ranks,  had  advanced 
within  a  day's  march  of  Medinah  when  Lulu  caught 
them  up.  Despairing  of  being  able  to  resist  the 
Egyptian  troops,  who  were  superior  to  themselves  both 
in  numbers  and  discipline,  they  sought  refuge  upon  a 

27 — 2 


420  JERUSALEM. 


mountain  difficult  of  access,  while  the  Bedawin,  with 
their  usual  discretion  in  cases  of  danger,  took  to  their 
heels.  Lulu,  however,  followed  them  to  the  heights, 
captured,  and  sent  them  in  chains  to  Cairo.  They 
were  given  over  for  execution  *  to  the  dervishes, 
lawyers,  and  religious  persons,'  who  put  them  all  to  a 
cruel  death,  reserving  only  two  of  the  most  conspicuous 
members  of  the  band,  'who  were  sent  to  Mecca  to 
have  their  throats  cut,  like  the  beasts  who  are 
sacrificed  before  the  Ka'abah.' 

In  1 183  Saladin  obtained  possession  of  Hums,  Amed, 
'Aintab,  and  other  places.  He  next  besieged  Aleppo, 
which  he  took  after  a  short  siege  ;  though,  to  compensate 
the  sovereign  of  that  place,  'Emad-ed-din  ibn  Maudud, 
for  its  loss,  he  bestowed  upon  him  the  territory  of 
Sanjar.  The  conquest  of  Aleppo  took  place  in  the 
month  Safar,  and  a  poet  of  Damascus  (Muhiy-ed-din), 
celebrating  the  event  in  an  ode  addressed  to  the  sultan, 
'  declared  that  the  capture  of  Aleppo  in  Safar  was  a 
good  augury  for  that  of  Jerusalem  in  Rejeb' — a  verse 
which  seems  to  have  been  prophetic,  for  Jerusalem  fell 
in  the  month  Rejeb  of  the  year  1187  a.d. 

The  next  year  the  sultan  made  a  fresh  attack  upon 
Kerak.  A  severe  conflict  took  place  between  his  forces 
and  the  Christians,  and  some  of  the  forts  fell  into  his 
hands.  He  did  not,  however,  follow  up  his  advantage, 
but  returned  to  Damascus,  having  first  marched  upon 
Nablus,  which  he  plundered  and  burnt. 

In  1186  Diyar  Bekr  also  yielded  to  his  arms,  and  his 
kingdom  was  now  becoming  so  extensive  that  he  found 
himself  obliged  to  make  some  different  provision  for  the 
government  of  the  various  provinces.  Sending  for  his 
son,  El  Melik  el  Afdhal,  from  Egypt,  he  assigned  him 
the  seigneurie    of   Damascus;    Egypt,   Hamah,    Diyar 


SALADIN'S  HOLY  WAR.  421 

Bekr,    etc.,    he    allotted    to    other    members    of    his 
family. 

We  now  come  to  1187,  the  year  of  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  most  important  era  in  Saladin's 
career.  His  operations  against  the  Franks,  though 
generally  successful,  had  as  yet  partaken  rather  of  the 
character  of  border  forays  than  regular  warfare,  and 
although  they  harassed  and  annoyed  the  Crusaders, 
they  did  not  materially  weaken  their  position  in  the 
country.  Jerusalem  was  defended  by  the  flower  of  the 
Christian  chivalry,  and  as  yet  appeared  too  strong  for 
him  to  attack ;  but  his  determination  had  long  been 
taken,  and  he  merely  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  strike 
a  decisive  blow.  An  appeal  was,  moreover,  made  to 
him,  artfully  calculated  to  inflame  his  religious  zeal, 
and  sting  his  personal  pride.  An  aged  native  of 
Damascus  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Franks,  and 
carried  to  Jerusalem.  From  the  place  of  his  captivity 
he  sent  a  copy  of  verses  to  the  sultan,  in  which  the 
Holy  City  was  made  to  address  him  thus : 

'  Just  sovereign,  mighty  monarch  !  thou 
To  whom  the  Cross's  standards  bow  ! 
There  cometh  up  before  thee  now 

Jerusalem's  piteous  plaint. 
"  Elsewhere  are  idols  overthrown — 
Shall  I,  the  Holy  House,  alone, 
The  Muslim's  noblest  temple,  groan 

Beneath  so  foul  a  taint  ?"  ' 

The  verse  had  its  effect,  and  later  on,  Saladin 
rewarded  the  author  with  the  deanery  (if  we  may  so 
translate  the  word  khatdbeh)  of  the  Masjid  el  Aksa. 

In  the  month  of  March  he  addressed  letters  to  all 
parts  of  his  dominions  calling  on  his  subjects  to  rally 
round  his  standard,  and  follow  him  to  the  '  Holy  War.' 
Setting  out  from  Damascus  with  such  men  as  he 
could  raise,  he  began  himself  to  beat  up  recruits,  and 


422  JERUSALEM. 


persuaded  even  the  most  unwilling  to  take  up  arms  in 
the  cause  of  their  faith. 

Renaud,  Prince  of  Kerak,  had  resolved  upon  attack- 
ing the  Mohammedan  pilgrims  on  their  return  from 
Mecca,  and  carrying  them  into  captivity ;  but  Saladin 
encamped  near  Bosra  until  the  caravan  had  passed, 
and  so  thwarted  his  designs.  Renaud  was  one  of  the 
fiercest  and  most  implacable  antagonists  the  Muslims 
had  to  contend  with,  and  he,  knowing  that  he  had  little 
chance  of  quarter  if  he  fell  into  Saladin's  hands,  with- 
drew into  his  fortress  at  Kerak.  As  the  Egyptian  con- 
tingent for  which  he  was  waiting  did  not  arrive  so  soon 
as  he  had  expected,  Saladin  commanded  his  son,  El 
Melik  el  Afdhal,  to  remain  at  Ras  el  Ma,  and  collect  an 
army,  while  he  himself  occupied  his  leisure  by  plunder- 
ing and  burning  the  villages  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Kerak.  Here  he  was  at  last  joined  by  the  Egyptians, 
and  things  remained  in  statu  quo  for  two  months. 
Meanwhile  El  Afdhal  had  executed  his  father's  com- 
mands, and  collected  a  large  body  of  men,  with  whom, 
in  the  absence  of  other  orders,  he  marched  upon 
Tiberias.  At  Sefuriyeh  they  were  met  by  the  Chris- 
tian troops,  who  sallied  forth  in  great  numbers  from 
the  town  and  gave  them  battle.  Fortune,  however, 
declared  for  the  Muslims,  and  the  Crusaders  retired 
with  great  loss.  Saladin,  on  receiving  the  news 
of  this  victory,  left  Kerak  and  joined  his  son.  The 
combined  forces  now  amounted  to  an  immense  number 
of  men,  all  ardently  desiring  to  do  battle  with  the 
'  infidels,'  and  the  Franks,  sensible  of  the  approaching 
danger,  made  overtures  for  peace.  But  Saladin  con- 
tinued his  march  upon  Jerusalem.  On  the  27th  of 
June  he  pitched  at  Jaibin,  and  on  the  following 
morning  reached  the  Jordan. 


BATTLE  OF  TIBERIAS.  423 

In  the  meantime  the  Crusaders  endeavoured  to  stop 
his  progress,  and  had  assembled  (according  to  the  Arab 
authorities)  to  the  number  of  fifty  thousand  in  the  plain 
of  Sefuriyeh,  where  for  some  days  continuous  but  un- 
important skirmishes  took  place.  Saladin  determined 
first  to  attack  Tiberias  itself,  and,  sending  a  party  of 
sappers  and  miners  stealthily  to  undermine  the  walls, 
he  approached  and  entered  the  town  at  nightfall.  The 
Franks  knew  that  the  loss  of  this  important  place 
would  be  fatal  to  their  cause.  The  next  morning, 
therefore,  as  soon  as  they  got  information  of  the  move- 
ment, they  beat  to  arms,  and  proceeded  with  all  speed 
to  endeavour  to  oust  Saladin  from  his  position.  It 
was  a  Friday  morning,  but,  rigid  Mussulman  as  the 
sultan  was,  he  did  not,  on  this  occasion  at  least, 
allow  his  scruples  to  interfere  with  his  plan  of  action. 
Leaving  some  men  in  charge  of  the  castle  of  Tiberias, 
he  sallied  out,  and  gave  battle  to  the  enemy.  The 
conflict  raged  fiercely,  neither  side  gaining  a  decisive 
advantage,  until  night  coming  on  put  a  stop  to  the  en- 
counter. In  the  morning  both  sides  prepared  to 
resume  the  fight,  and  the  Muslims  rushed  to  the  attack 
shouting  like  one  man.  At  this  a  sudden  panic  seized 
upon  the  Christian  ranks,  and  they  retired  in  disorder 
to  Jebel  Hattin,  a  village  in  which  is  the  reputed  tomb 
of  Jethro,  the  father-in-law  of  Moses.  The  Count  of 
Tripoli,  foreseeing  that  defeat  was  imminent,  withdrew 
with  his  followers  before  the  general  rout  began,  and 
fled  to  Tyre. 

And  now  was  enacted  a  scene  of  indescribable  car- 
nage and  confusion.  The  Muslims,  who  had  followed 
in  hot  pursuit,  came  suddenly  upon  the  retreating  host, 
and,  having  surrounded  them  on  all  sides,  so  as  to 
make  escape  impossible,   set  fire  to  the  dry  herbage 


424  JERUSALEM. 


beneath  their  feet.  The  flames  spread  instantly,  and 
the  Christians,  scorched  by  the  burning  grass,  and 
fainting  under  the  scarcely  less  fierce  rays  of  a  Syrian 
midsummer  sun,  fell,  huddled  together  like  sheep, 
beneath  the  swords  and  darts  of  their  assailants.  No 
fewer  than  thirty  thousand  of  their  bravest  soldiers  are 
said  to  have  perished  on  the  field,  and  many  others 
were  taken  captive.  So  entirely  were  they  cowed  and 
demoralized  that  one  peasant  alone  is  related  to  have 
taken  thirty  prisoners,  and  tied  them  in  his  tent,  and 
to  have  sold  one  of  them  for  an  old  boot ! 

Amongst  the  prisoners  were  the  king  himself,  and 
his  brother  Godfrey,  Odo,  Lord  of  Jebail,  Count 
Humphrey,  the  Grand  Masters  of  the  Templars  and 
Hospitallers,  together  with  many  knights  of  both 
orders,  and  Prince  Renaud  of  Kerak,  who  was  one  of 
the  first  captured.  Saladin  had  sworn  that  if  ever 
Renaud  fell  into  his  power  he  would  slay  him  with  his 
own  hand,  for  he  was  incensed  against  him  not  only 
for  his  meditated  attack  upon  Medinah,  but  because  he 
had  violated  the  truce  and  treacherously  murdered 
some  Egyptians  who  were  passing  by  Shobek,  answer- 
ing them  by  coarse  jests  upon  Mohammed  when  they 
appealed  to  his  honour  and  the  articles  of  peace. 

The  sultan  was  sitting  in  the  threshold  of  his  tent, 
which  was  not  yet  completely  set  up,  and  the  captives 
were  arrayed  before  him  one  by  one.  When  King  Guy 
was  brought  out  he  courteously  invited  him  to  sit  down 
by  his  side,  and  perceiving  Renaud  immediately  after, 
he  made  him  sit  down  beside  the  king,  and  commenced 
upbraiding  him  with  his  former  breach  of  faith  and 
with  his  attempt  upon  the  sanctuary  of  Medinah. 
Renaud  excused  himself,  saying,  through  the  inter- 
preter, '  that   he  had  only  acted  after  the  manner  of 


THE  CHRISTIAN  PRISONERS.  425 

princes.'  At  this  moment  the  king  gave  signs  of  being 
greatly  distressed  by  thirst,  and  Saladin  ordered  iced 
sherbet  to  be  brought  for  his  refreshment.  Having 
quenched  his  own  thirst,  the  king  handed  the  cup  to 
Renaud  ;  but  as  the  latter  raised  it  to  his  lips,  Saladin 
exclaimed,  '  Thou  hast  given  him  to  drink,  not  I.' 
This  sentence  was  equivalent  to  Renaud's  death-knell, 
for  Saladin  thereby  disclaimed  the  obligation  he  would 
have  been  under  (according  to  the  laws  of  Arab  war- 
fare) to  spare  the  life  of  a  captive  who  had  eaten  or 
drunk  with  him.  As  soon  as  the  tent  was  pitched  the 
sultan  again  ordered  Renaud  to  be  brought  before 
him,  and  told  him  he  was  '  going  to  help  Mohammed 
against  him  this  time.'  He  then  gave  the  Prince  of 
Kerak  one  last  chance  of  his  life,  offering  to  spare  him 
if  he  would  embrace  Islam.  Renaud,  whatever  his 
other  faults,  was  no  coward,  and  as  he  returned  a 
proud  refusal  to  the  offer,  Saladin  smote  him  to  the 
ground,  and  commanded  the  attendants  to  cut  off  his 
head.  The  order  was  promptly  executed,  and  the 
reeking  corpse  was  dragged  by  the  feet  to  where  the 
king  was  standing.  The  latter,  who  had  witnessed  the 
incident,  made  sure  that  his  own  turn  was  to  follow 
next,  and  could  not  conceal  his  agitation  ;  but  Saladin 
assured  him  that  he  had  no  cause  to  fear,  that  '  it  was 
not  the  custom  amongst  his  people  for  one  king  to 
injure  or  insult  another,  and  that  Renaud  had  only  met 
the  fate  which  all  such  traitors  deserved.' 

The  capture  of  the  king  was,  however,  of  less  im- 
portance in  the  eyes  of  the  Christians  than  that  of  the 
'True  Cross,' which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Mussulmans 
on  this  occasion.  The  native  writers  describe  with 
great  glee  the  costly  covering  of  gold  and  precious 
stones  in  which  the  relic  was  encased,  and  the  despair 


426  JERUSALEM, 

of  the  Christians  at  its  loss.  This  victory,  which  com- 
pletely crushed  the  Christian  power,  and  paved  the  way 
for  Saladin's  future  successes,  took  place  on  the  14th 
of  June. 

Saladin,  by  his  manoeuvre  of  the  previous  Friday, 
had  only  possessed  himself  of  a  portion  of  the  town  of 
Tiberias.  Raymond's  wife  had  moved  all  she  possessed 
to  the  castle,  and  prepared  to  defend  it  against  the 
invaders,  but,  when  she  saw  the  turn  which  affairs 
had  taken,  she  very  wisely  withdrew  with  her  imme- 
diate followers  and  rejoined  her  husband  at  Tyre,  The 
Mohammedans  were  thus  enabled  to  occupy  the  fort. 

Having  appointed  Sarim-ed-din  Caimaza  Sanji  as 
governor  of  Tiberias,  Saladin  pitched  his  tent  outside 
the  town,  and  commanded  the  Templars  and  Hospital- 
lers who  had  been  taken  prisoners  to  be  brought  before 
him.  No  less  than  two  hundred  of  these  were  found 
distributed  amongst  the  soldiery,  and  Saladin  ordered 
them  to  be  immediately  beheaded.  There  were  a 
number  of  '  doctors  and  philosophers  '  present  with 
the  Mohammedan  troops,  and  these  petitioned  as  a 
particular  favour  to  be  allowed  to  perform  the  office  of 
executioners,  and  permission  being  accorded  them,  the 
learned  gentlemen  each  selected  a  knight  and  butchered 
him,  as  a  practical  comment  upon  the  Ovidian  maxim — 

'  Ingenuas  didicisse  fideliter  artes 
Emollit  mores  nee  sinit  esse  feros  !' 

The  grand  masters  of  the  two  orders  were  spared  and 
sent,  together  with  the  king,  his  brother  Godfrey,  and 
the  Lord  of  Jebail,  to  Damascus,  where  they  wTere 
thrown  into  prison. 

On  the  following  Tuesday  the  sultan  resumed  his 
march,  and  on  the  Thursday  morning  encamped  before 
the  walls  of  Acre.     The  inhabitants  made  no  resistance, 


SALADFN'S  PROGRESS.  427 


but  came  out  of  the  city  and  met  him  with  prayers  for 
quarter.  This  he  granted  them,  and,  having  given 
them  the  option  either  of  remaining  in  the  city  or 
removing  from  it,  and  giving  those  who  chose  to  with- 
draw time  to  enable  them  to  do  so,  he  took  possession 
of  it  with  his  troops  on  the  9th  of  July.  While  here, 
Saladin  received  intelligence  that  his  brother,  El  Melik 
el  ''Adil,  had  left  Egypt,  and  was  on  the  road  to  join 
him,  having  conquered  the  fortress  of  Mejdel  Yaba  and 
the  city  of  Jaffa  by  the  way. 

Making  Acre  his  headquarters,  the  sultan  dispersed 
the  emirs  over  the  country  in  different  directions  for 
the  purpose  of  attacking  the  castles  and  fortified  towns. 
Nazareth  was  taken  after  a  slight  resistance,  men  and 
women  were  carried  into  captivity  and  their  property 
plundered.  Sefuriyeh  was  found  to  be  entirely  deserted, 
the  inhabitants  having  decamped  after  the  disastrous 
battle  of  Hattin.  Caesarea,  Arsuf,  Sebastiyeh,  and 
Nablus  were  next  added  to  the  list  of  Saladin's  con- 
quests ;  the  last-named  place  fell  an  easy  prey,  as  all 
the  principal  inhabitants,  both  of  the  town  and  its 
vicinity,  were  Mohammedan,  and  consequently  dis- 
affected to  the  Christian  rule. 

Fuleh  was  one  of  the  most  important  fortresses  of  the 
Crusaders,  and  a  depot  both  for  their  stores  and  men. 
Against  this  the  sultan  next  directed  his  attention,  and 
succeeded  in  reducing  it  after  some  days'  siege.  He 
did  not,  however,  derive  as  much  advantage  from  the 
conquest  of  this  place  as  he  had  expected,  for  its 
defenders  had  found  means  of  withdrawing  with  a 
greater  part  of  their  arms  and  provisions  ;  so  that  the 
sultan  found  no  one  there  when  he  entered  it  but  a  few 
of  the  lower  class  of  the  population.  It  was,  neverthe- 
less, important  in  its  results,  for  the  conquest  of  the 


428  JERUSALEM. 


other  principal  forts  of  the  neighbourhood  followed  as 
a  matter  of  course,  and  Daburiyeh,  Jaibin,  Towaliyeh, 
Lejun,  Beisan,  and  other  places  fell  into  the  Saracens* 
hands,  including  the  entire  provinces  of  Tiberias  and 
Acre. 

The  sultan  then  ordered  his  nephew,  El  Melik  el 
Muzaffar,  to  march  upon  the  fortress  of  Tibnin.  After 
a  week's  siege  the  inhabitants  were  obliged  to  sue  for 
quarter.  The  request  was  referred  to  Saladin  person- 
ally, who  granted  quarter  to  the  defenders  of  the  town, 
taking  hostages  for  their  good  conduct,  on  condition  of 
their  entirely  surrendering  it  within  five  days,  and 
setting  free  all  the  Mohammedan  captives  who  remained 
in  their  hands.  This  plan  he  adopted  thenceforth  with 
all  places  which  he  conquered,  and  thus  set  at  liberty  a 
large  number  of  prisoners,  many  of  whom  were  doubt- 
less fighting  men,  and  would  add  greatly  to  the  numeri- 
cal strength  of  his  army. 

The  occupation  of  Tibnin  by  Saladin's  troops  took 
place  on  the  26th  of  July,  1187,  and  three  days  after- 
wards the  Muslim  flag  was  flying  from  the  walls  of 
Sidon. 

Saladin  next  attacked  Beirut,  which  place  prepared 
for  a  long  resistance ;  but  his  sappers  and  miners 
having  succeeded  in  undermining  the  wall  and  weak- 
ening the  foundations  of  the  tower,  the  besieged  deemed 
it  better  to  capitulate,  and  the  town  was  occupied  by 
the  Saracens  on  the  6th  of  August. 

While  he  was  at  Beirut  a  letter  came  to  the  sultan 
from  one  of  his  officers  at  Damascus,  informing  him 
that  Odo,  Lord  of  Jebail,  who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  taken  prisoner  at  Hettin,  had  consented  to  surren- 
der his  town  on  condition  that  he  should  be  himself 
released  from   captivity.     Saladin   ordered  him  to  be 


SALADIN'S  PROGRESS.  429 

brought  to  Beirut  in  chains,  and  having  concluded  the 
bargain  and  obtained  possession  of  Jebail  (August  14th), 
he  set  Odo  at  liberty.  The  arrangement  was  not  a 
politic  one  for  the  Mussulmans,  for  Odo  was  an  active 
and  influential  chief,  and  was  destined  to  give  them 
much  trouble.  The  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Beirut,  Sidon,  and  Jebail  were  Mohammedans,  which 
may  account  for  the  easy  conquest  of  those  places. 
The  Christian  part  of  the  population,  who  had  received 
permission  to  withdraw  on  the  entry  of  the  sultan's 
troops,  removed  to  Tyre,  where  the  Count  of  Tripoli 
had  retired  after  the  defeat  of  the  Christians  at 
Tiberias.  Hearing  that  Saladin  was  marching  upon 
him,  the  count  vacated  the  city  and  fled  to  Tripoli, 
where  he  died.  The  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  who  had 
only  arrived  that  year  on  the  coast  of  Syria,  happened 
at  this  time  to  put  into  the  port  of  Acre,  not  knowing 
that  it  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Muslims.  He  was 
at  first  surprised  that  no  demonstration  of  joy  greeted 
his  arrival,  but  quickly  perceiving  the  real  state  of  the 
case,  he  would  willingly  have  sought  safety  in  flight. 
The  wind,  however,  being  unfavourable,  he  asked  for 
quarter  and  requested  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  land. 
Permission  was  given  him,  but  he  pretended  that  he 
dared  not  trust  himself  ashore  without  a  safe-conduct  in 
the  sultan's  own  handwriting,  and  gaining  time  by  this 
and  similar  devices,  he  took  advantage  of  a  favourable 
wind  springing  up  and  sailed  away  to  Tyre.  Here  he 
landed,  and  at  once  set  about  fortifying  and  entrenching 
the  town,  and,  being  joined  by  the  fugitives  from  all 
the  towns  conquered  by  the  Mussulmans,  he  succeeded 
in  establishing  himself  in  an  almost  impregnable 
position. 

After    the    conquest  of  Beirut  and   Jebail,    Saladin 


43Q  JERUSALEM. 


returned  by  way  of  Sidon  and  Sarfend,  and,  passing 
by  Tyre  without  attempting  to  assault  it,  he  proceeded 
to  the  coast  of  Philistia,  and,  having  taken  Ramleh, 
Yebneh,  Bethlehem,  and  Hebron  on  his  way  thither, 
sat  down  before  Ascalon  and  prepared  to  bring  his 
engines  of  war  to  bear  upon  the  walls.  For  fourteen 
days  the  city  held  out,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the 
inhabitants  surrendered  on  the  urgent  representations 
of  the  king  and  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  to 
whom  Saladin  had  given  a  promise  that  he  would  release 
them  from  captivity  so  soon  as  he  should  have  mas- 
tered the  forts  and  towers  which  still  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  Crusaders.  Ascalon  was  enabled  to  make 
very  good  terms  with  its  conqueror,  all  the  residents 
being  permitted  to  leave  unmolested,  and  taking  with 
them  all  their  property  and  possessions.  It  surren- 
dered on  the  5th  of  September,  1187,  having  been  in 
the  hands  of  the  Crusaders  for  nearly  thirty-five  years. 
At  Ascalon  Saladin  was  joined  by  his  son,  el  Melik  El 
'Aziz  'Othman,  from  Cairo,  who  brought  with  him  a 
contingent  of  troops,  and  information  of  the  departure 
of  the  Emir  Lulu  with  the  Egyptian  fleet  to  intercept 
the  arrival  of  reinforcements  to  the  Crusaders  by  sea. 

And  now  came  the  supreme  moment  for  the  Christian 
power ;  the  sultan  gave  orders  to  march  upon  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  greatest  consternation  prevailed  within 
the  Holy  City. 

On  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  20th  of  October,  the 
Mohammedan  army  arrived  in  front  of  the  town  on  the 
west  side,  where  it  was  met  by  a  large  sortie,  and  a  fierce 
and  sanguinary  conflict  took  place.  On  the  25th  the 
sultan  moved  his  camp  to  the  north  side  of  the  city,  and 
began  to  set  up  his  engines  and  battering-rams,  and 
shortly  effected  a  slight  breach ;  at  the  same  time  his 


OCCUPATION  OF  THE  CITY.  431 

sappers  were  undermining  the  wall  which  runs  parallel 
to  the  Wady  Jehennum.  The  Christians,  few  in 
numbers  and  disheartened,  made  one  or  two  sorties, 
but  victory  inclined  to  the  Mussulmans.  Balian  of 
Ibelin  now  sallied  forth  with  a  flag  of  truce,  and 
besought  the  sultan  to  allow  them  to  capitulate,  but 
Saladin  would  hold  no  parley  with  him,  and  swore  that 
'  he  would  capture  the  city  by  the  sword,  as  the  Franks 
had  taken  it  from  the  true  believers.'  The  Frank 
leaders,  finding  entreaties  of  no  avail,  swore  that  if 
terms  were  not  granted  them  they  would  sell  their  lives 
as  dearly  as  might  be,  utterly  destroy  the  city,  and  the 
Kubbet  es  Sakhrah  with  it,  and  murder  every  Mo- 
hammedan who  remained  in  their  power.  As  there 
were  some  thousands  of  Muslim  prisoners  in  the  city, 
this  last  threat  induced  the  sultan  to  reconsider  his 
determination,  and  a  council  of  war  was  called,  at 
which  it  was  resolved  that  the  peaceable  capitulation 
of  the  town  should  be  received  upon  certain  conditions. 
These  were,  that  the  Christians  should  pay  ten  dinars 
for  every  man,  five  for  a  woman,  and  two  for  a  child, 
and  that  those  who  could  not  pay  were  to  surrender  as 
prisoners.  There  were  said  to  be  more  than  sixty 
thousand  fighting  men  in  the  town,  besides  women  and 
children,  and  other  non-combatants  ;  the  sum  of  money 
demanded  was,  therefore,  immoderately  large.  Balian 
disbursed  thirty  thousand  dinars  on  behalf  of  the  poor, 
and  the  Grand  Masters  of  the  Hospitallers  and 
Templars,  as  well  as  the  patriarch,  came  forward 
nobly  to  the  relief  of  their  poorer  brethren,  both  with 
money  and  security.  The  Mohammedans  entered  the 
city  on  the  1st  of  November,  just  before  noonday 
prayer,  and  at  once  took  precautions  for  ensuring  the 
due  performance  of  the  stipulation,  by  locking  the  gates 


432  JERUSALEM. 


of  the  city,  and  allowing  no  one  to  leave  without 
payment  of  the  required  sum,  and,  moreover,  ap- 
pointing officers  to  collect  the  poll-tax  from  the 
inhabitants. 

The  Mohammedan  historians  themselves  allow  that 
great  corruption  prevailed  amongst  these  officers,  and 
that  for  a  small  consideration  they  connived  at  the 
escape  of  many  Christians  by  the  breaches  which  had 
been  made  during  the  siege,  or  even  let  them  down 
themselves  in  buckets  from  the  walls.  Some  of  the 
more  distinguished,  especially  of  the  women,  ex- 
perienced the  sultan's  clemency ;  amongst  these  was  a 
princess  of  great  wealth,  who  had  resided  in  Jerusalem 
as  a  nun,  and  who  was  allowed  to  leave  with  her 
property  intact.  Sybille,  the  queen-consort  of  the 
captive  king,  and  the  Princess  of  Kerak,  daughter  of 
Philip  and  mother  of  Humphrey,  were  also  excused  the 
tax,  and  permitted  to  depart.  Zeha,  one  of  the 
Saracen  generals,  sought  and  obtained  the  release  of 
over  five  hundred  Armenians,  alleging  that  they 
belonged  to  his  country,  and  were  only  present  as 
pilgrims ;  and  a  thousand  more  Armenians  were  set  at 
liberty  on  a  similar  representation  being  made  in 
their  favour  by  Muzaffer-ed-din  Kokaburi,  another  of 
Saladin's  officers.  Committees  were  established  in 
various  parts  of  the  town  where  payments  were 
received,  and  a  passport  from  any  of  these  boards 
was  sufficient  to  procure  the  bearer  a  free  passage  out 
of  the  city.  As  might  be  expected,  much  peculation 
went  on  amongst  the  inferior  officers,  in  spite  of  which 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dinars  were  brought  into 
the  public  treasury,  while  many  Franks  still  remained 
prisoners  in  default  of  payment.  The  Franks  were 
anxious  to  clear  out  of  the  place  as  soon  as  possible, 


PA  YMENT  OF  RANSOM.  433 

and  sold  their  lands  and  effects  at  ruinous  prices  to  the 
Mussulmans,   while    the   patriarch  stripped  the   Holy 
Sepulchre  and  other  churches  of  the  plate,  gold  and 
silver  ornaments,  and  other  valuables,  and  prepared  to 
carry    them    off  with    him.     El  'Emad,    the    sultan's 
secretary,  saw  with  displeasure  the  disappearance   of 
all  this  treasure,  worth,  we  are  told,  more  than  two 
hundred    thousand    dinars,    and    advised    Saladin    to 
forbid    its    removal,   declaring  that  the  privilege    ex- 
tended   to    private    property    alone.     But  the    sultan 
declared  that  the   Christians   should    never   have    oc- 
casion to  charge  the  Muslims  with  a  breach  of  faith, 
and  allowed  the  Franks  to  carry  off  all  the  portable 
articles    they    pleased.     Those    who    were    enabled    to 
leave  made  the  best  of  their  way  to  Tyre ;  but  there 
still  remained  over  fifteen  thousand  defaulters,  of  whom 
eight  thousand  were  women  and  children.     When  the 
Mussulmans  were  quietly  settled  in  the  possession  of 
Jerusalem  the  Christians  asked  and  obtained  permission 
to  return,  on  payment  of  the  usual  tax. 

A  curious  reason  is  given  by  the  Arab  historians  for 
the  strong  feeling  which  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  ex- 
cited throughout  Europe.  The  Christians,  say  they, 
made  an  image  of  Christ  and  Mohammed,  the  latter 
holding  an  upraised  stick  and  the  former  fleeing  away, 
and  carried  it  about  with  them  in  Christian  countries 
to  induce  their  co-religionists  to  revenge  their  quarrel 
by  a  new  crusade. 

The  first  Friday  after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  was  a 
memorable  one  for  Islam  :  Saladin  himself  was  present 
at  the  public  service  and  prayed  in  the  Kubbet  es 
Sakhrah,  where  a  most  eloquent  sermon  (khotbah)  was 
delivered  by  the  poet  Muhiy-ed-din  (whose  verse  pro- 
phetic   of   the   occasion  has  been  already  alluded  to) 

28 


434  JERUSALEM. 


and  the  concourse  of  people  was  so  great  that  there 
was  scarcely  standing-room  in  the  open  court  of  the 
Haram  Area. 

The  Franks  had  built  an  oratory  and  altar  over  the 
Sakhrah  itself,  and  'filled  it  with  images  and  idols;' 
these  Saladin  removed,  and  restored  it  to  its  original 
condition  as  a  mosque.  The  Christians  are  also  said 
to  have  cut  off  portions  of  the  Sakhrah  and  sold  them 
in  Sicily  and  Constantinople  for  their  weight  in 
gold. 

A  great  cross,  plated  with  gold  and  studded  with 
jewels,  was  found  on  the  holy  rock  when  Saladin 
entered  the  Temple ;  this  the  Muslims  pulled  down 
and  dragged  with  great  glee  round  the  city,  to  the 
intense  horror  of  the  Christians,  who  expected  some 
dreadful  visitation  to  follow  such  profanity.  Saladin's 
first  care  was  to  uncover  the  mihrdb  or  '  prayer  niche,'* 
in  front  of  which  the  Templars  had  built  a  wall,  leaving 

*  The  mihrdb,  that  is,  of  the  Jami'  el  Aksa,  as  being  that  of  the 
congregational  building,  and  therefore  the  principal  one  in  the 
enclosure.  It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  a  few  facts,  which  are 
perfectly  clear  from  the  statements  of  the  Arab  historians  (in  the 
original),  but  which  are  either  neglected  or  misinterpreted  by  many 
European  writers,  and  notably  by  Mr.  Fergusson.  These  are : 
I.  That  the  Masjidel  Aksa  is  the  whole  Haram  Area,  including  the 
Jami'  el  Aksa  and  Kubbet  es  Sakhrah,  as  well  as  all  the  smaller 
oratories,  mosques,  minarets,  etc.  2.  That  all  these,  as  already  ex- 
plained, were  built  by  'Abd  el  Melik,  and  that  the  Kubbet  es  Sakhrah 
is  only  mentioned  more  specially  than  the  other  buildings  erected 
by  that  prince  because  of  its  magnificent  proportions  and  the 
peculiar  sanctity  of  the  spot  it  covers.  3.  That  the  Kubbet  es 
Sakhrah  is  only  a  supplementary  building  .  4.  That  when  the 
pulpit,  the  'kiblah,'  etc.,  of  the  Masjid  el  Aksa  is  spoken  of  it  must 
always  be  referred  to  that  of  the  Jami' el  Aksa  ;  just  as  when  speaking 
of  the  chancel  of  an  English  cathedral  we  should  mean  that  of  the 
main  building,  and  not  that  of  the  lady  chapel,  and  still  less  of  any 
oratory,  however  large,  that  might  exist  in  another  part  of  the  close. 
The  account  in  the  text  is  taken  from  Mejfr-ed-din.  The  inscrip- 
tion recording  Saladin's  restorations  may  still  be  seen  in  letters  of 
gold  over  the  ?nihrdb  of  the  Jami'  el  Aksa. 


RESTORATIONS  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  435 

an  empty  space  between*  they  had  also  built  a 
spacious  house  and  chapel  on  the  west  of  the  kiblah. 
He  pulled  down  the  wall,  covered  the  mihrdb  with 
marble,  thoroughly  cleansed  the  place,  and  supplied 
it  with  lamps,  costly  carpets,  and  other  furniture.  The 
Sultan  Nur-ed-din  had  himself  resolved  upon  the  con- 
quest of  Jerusalem,  but  the  expedition  was  prevented 
by  his  sudden  death.  He  had  ordered  a  magnificent 
pulpit  (nimbar)  to  be  executed  by  a  celebrated  artist 
at  Aleppo,  intending  to  present  it  to  the  mosque  ;  this 
Saladin  sent  for  and  placed  in  the  Jami'  el  Aksa,  where 
it  remains  to  the  present  day,  and  forms  one  of  the 
principal  objects  of  attraction  to  the  visitor,  being  one 
of  the  most  exquisite  pieces  of  carved  wood-work  in 
the  world.  Both  the  Kubbet  es  Sakhrah  and  El  Aksa 
were  furnished  by  the  sultan  with  copies  of  the  Koran, 
doubtless  from  the  celebrated  library  at  Damascus,  the 
remains  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  little  dome 
(called  Kubbet  el  Kutub)  in  the  Jami'  el  Omawiyeh  of 
that  city. 

The  princes  of  Saladin's  family  personally  assisted 
in  the  work  of  restoration  and  purification,  and  it  is 
related  that  El  Melik  el  Muzaffar  himself  headed  the 
attendants  who  swept  out  and  washed  the  sanctuary. 
The  process  must  have  cost  a  considerable  sum,  for 
after  thoroughly  cleansing  it  with  water  they  deluged 
every  portion,  even  to  the  walls  and  pavement,  with 
rose-water. 

The  mihrdb,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  the  Tower 
of  David,  near  the  Jaffa  Gate,  was  also  refurnished  as 
a  mosque  and  endowed  with  funds. 

These  more  important  buildings  provided  for,  Saladin 
turned  his  attention  to  the  other  churches  and  sacred 
*  Some  say  it  had  been  even  turned  into  a  latrina. 

28—2 


436  JERUSALEM. 


places  in  the  town.  The  Church  of  Sion  was  occupied 
by  El  Melik  el  ''Adil  and  his  staff-officers,  the  soldiery 
being  encamped  at  the  gate.  The  Church  of  St. 
Hannah  was  turned  into  a  college  for  the  doctors  of 
the  Shafiite  sect ;  and  the  patriarch's  house  adjoining, 
and  partly  built  on  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
was  made  use  of  as  a  cloister  for  the  Sufi  monks  and 
philosophers ;  both  of  these  establishments  were 
liberally  endowed,  and  afterwards  became  celebrated 
schools  of  Mohammedan  learning.  As  for  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  it  was  locked  up,  and  no  Chris- 
tian allowed  to  enter  it.  It  had  indeed  a  narrow 
escape,  as  many  of  Saladin's  officers  counselled  him 
to  destroy  it ;  thanks,  however,  to  the  sultan's  mode- 
ration and  the  noble  example  of  'Omar,  which  he 
adduced,  their  advice  was  not  carried  out.  The  whole 
of  the  wealth  which  he  had  acquired  by  this  conquest 
he  distributed  amongst  the  most  deserving  of  his  fol- 
lowers, disregarding  the  advice  of  some  more  prudent 
minds  to  keep  it  against  future  emergencies.  He  also 
collected  all  the  Mohammedan  captives,  and  fed  them, 
clothed  them,  and  sent  them  to  their  homes  at  his  own 
private  expense. 

Saladin,  having  written  to  the  caliph  to  acquaint  him 
with  the  victory,  remained  for  some  time  at  Jerusalem 
to  complete  the  reduction  of  the  fortresses  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  to  tranquillize  the  country  ;  while  his 
generals  El  Melik  el  Afdhal  and  El  Melik  el  Muzaffar 
proceeded  to  Acre.  The  Emir  'All  ibn  Ahmed  el 
Mashtub,  governor  of  Sidon  and  Beyrout,  remained 
behind  with  the  sultan.  Hearing  that  the  Marquis  of 
Montferrat  had  taken  advantage  of  the  concentration 
of  their  attention  upon  Jerusalem  to  strengthen  his 
position  at  Tyre,  he  began  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of 


DEFEAT  OF  SAL  A  DIN'S  FLEET.  437 

his  own  towns,  and  continually  urged  Saladin  to 
resume  his  campaign  in  Syria. 

Accordingly,  on  the  26th  of  October,  Saladin  once 
more  set  out  for  Acre,  and  reached  that  city  on  the 
3rd  of  November.  In  eight  days  more  he  had  moved 
off  to  Tyre,  and,  encamping  at  some  distance  from 
the  walls,  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  rest  of  his  forces. 
On  the  25th  of  November  the  reinforcements  came  up, 
under  the  command  of  his  son,  El  Melik  ed  Dhahir 
Ghiyas  ed-din  Ghazi,  from  Aleppo,  and  the  siege  was 
commenced  in  right  earnest,  all  the  wood  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood being  cut  down  for  the  construction  of  the 
battering-rams  and  other  engines.  But  Conrad  de- 
fended the  place  skilfully  and  gallantly,  and  it  withstood 
all  attempts  to  take  it  by  storm. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  Saladin  prosecuting  a  career 
of  victory  unsullied  by  a  single  defeat ;  the  tide  of 
war  now  began  to  turn  for  a  time  in  favour  of  the 
Franks. 

The  first  disaster  which  the  Muslims  experienced  was 
by  sea.  The  sultan  had  ordered  all  the  ships  of  war  to 
come  up  and  assist  in  the  blockade  of  Tyre,  and  those 
which  were  at  Acre,  ten  in  number,  quickly  appeared 
upon  the  scene,  and  were  joined  in  a  few  days  by  the 
fleet  from  Beirut  and  Jebail.  The  marquis,  seeing 
that  this  manoeuvre  was  likely  to  cause  him  some 
trouble,  determined  to  counter  it,  and  accordingly  sent 
out  his  own  vessels  to  give  them  battle.  The  Muslim 
ships  were  drawn  up  in  line,  close  upon  the  shore,  and 
immediately  protected  by  their  own  troops.  The 
sailors,  confident  in  the  security  of  their  position, 
neglected  to  remain  upon  the  alert,  and  thus  gave  the 
marquis  his  opportunity,  of  which  he  was  not  slow  to 
avail  himself.     On  the  night  of  the  8th  of  December, 


438  JERUSALEM. 


a  number  of  the  sultan's  ships  were  riding  at  anchor 
near  the  entrance  to  the  harbour  of  Tyre ;  the  sailors 
and  marines  were  tranquilly  sleeping  in  happy  ignorance 
of  the  enemy's  movements,  when,  just  before  morning, 
they  were  rudely  awakened  to  find  themselves  sur- 
rounded and  at  the  mercy  of  the  Christians,  by  whom 
they  were  at  once  boarded  and  captured.  The  Moham- 
medans were  paralyzed  at  this  sudden  and  unexpected 
reverse,  and  the  remainder  of  the  fleet  were  hastily 
ordered  off  to  Beirut,  towards  which  they  made  the 
best  of  their  way,  the  army  riding  alongside  of  them 
upon  the  shore  to  cover  their  flight.  Before,  how- 
ever, they  had  got  far,  the  Frank  vessels  came  suddenly 
down  upon  them,  and  the  Mohammedan  sailors,  pre- 
cipitating themselves  into  the  water,  made  hastily  for 
the  shore,  leaving  their  vessels  without  a  soul  on  board. 
One  schooner  alone  managed  to  elude  her  pursuers, 
and  got  off  with  all  her  crew.  When  the  Christians 
came  upon  the  deserted  vessels  (which  they  still 
believed  to  be  full  of  men),  they  fancied  that  the 
Mohammedans  were  too  terrified  to  give  them  battle, 
and  poured  tumultuously  out  upon  the  shore  and 
attacked  the  main  body  of  Saladin's  troops.  The 
latter  had  by  this  time  somewhat  recovered  their 
presence  of  mind,  and  gave  them  a  warm  reception  ;  a 
desperate  conflict  took  place,  and  the  Franks  were  at  last 
driven  back  towards  the  town.  Two  of  their  leaders 
fell  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  '  a  great  count '  was 
also  taken  prisoner.  El  Melek  ed  Dhahir,  who  had 
not  taken  part  in  any  of  the  previous  engagements,  at 
once  ordered  the  last-mentioned  prisoner  to  be  be- 
headed, and  the  Mohammedans,  believing  him  to  be 
the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  himself  (whom  he  did 
resemble  in  form  and  features),  were  greatly  delighted 


BREAK-UP  OF  THE  SULTAN'S  CAMP.  439 

at  the  supposed  death  of  so  formidable  an  antagonist. 
But  they  had  experienced  a  very  heavy  blow,  and  would 
fain  have  compelled  the  sultan  to  relinquish  the  enter- 
prise against  Tyre  and  return  home.  Saladin,  how- 
ever, reproached  them  with  their  faint-heartedness,  and, 
partly  by  bribes,  partly  by  persuasion,  induced  them  to 
persevere. 

As  a  slight  compensation  for  his  recent  losses  and 
defeats,  he  received  news  about  this  time  of  the  capitu- 
lation of  the  fortress  of  Hunin,  which  had  been  for 
some  time  besieged  by  one  of  his  officers. 

The  troops  now  began  to  suffer  so  severely  from  the 
winter  cold  and  rains  that  Saladin  was  obliged,  though 
with  extreme  reluctance,  to  raise  the  siege  of  Tyre.  He 
had  expended  immense  sums  of  money  upon  his  engines 
of  war  ;  but  these  were  for  the  most  part  too  bulky  to 
remove,  while  to  leave  them  behind  would  be  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  besieged.  Some,  there- 
fore, which  it  was  possible  to  take  to  pieces  and  pack 
up,  were  sent  on  to  Sidon,  while  others,  which  could 
not  be  so  provided  for,  were  set  fire  to  and  destroyed. 
The  army  then  broke  up  into  several  divisions,  and 
departed  with  the  understanding  that  they  were  to 
come  back  again  in  the  early  part  of  the  spring  and 
resume  the  siege.  The  sultan  himself  moved  on  to 
Acre  and  camped  outside  the  city ;  but  the  cold 
presently  became  so  intense  that  he  was  compelled  to 
seek  shelter  within  the  walls.  Remaining  here  in 
winter  quarters,  he  occupied  himself  in  regulating  and 
improving  the  public  institutions  of  the  town.  With 
the  first  mild  days  of  spring  Saladin  was  again  on  the 
move,  and,  as  the  whole  complement  of  the  army 
had  not  yet  come  up,  he  determined  to  commence  the 
new  campaign  by  laying  siege  to  the  fortress  of  Kokeb  ; 


44o  JERUSALEM. 


but  this  proved  a  longer  and  more  difficult  task  than  he 
had  anticipated. 

"While  the  sultan  was  at  Kokeb  he  received  a  visit 
from  the  widow  of  Renaud,  Prince  of  Kerek,  who  came 
to  beg  for  the  release  of  her  son  Humphrey.  She  was 
accompanied  by  the  queen  and  her  daughter,  who  had 
also  married  Renaud's  son.  Saladin  received  them 
with  great  courtesy,  and  agreed  with  the  Princess  of 
Kerek  for  the  release  of  her  son  on  condition  that  the 
two  fortresses  of  Kerek  and  Shobek  should  surrender 
at  discretion  to  his  arms.  Having  exacted  a  promise 
from  her  to  this  effect,  Humphrey  was  sent  for  from 
Damascus,  and  proceeded  with  his  mother  and  a  de- 
tachment of  Mohammedan  troops  to  arrange  for  the  ful- 
filment of  the  terms  of  the  contract.  But  the  people  of 
Kerek  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  become  a  ransom 
for  the  young  count,  and  met  the  widow's  demand  for 
them  to  lay  down  their  arms  with  coarse  jeers  and 
opprobrious  language.  At  Shobek  she  fared  no  better, 
and  was  after  all  constrained  to  return  to  the  sultan 
with  the  humiliating  confession  that  she  had  not  suffi- 
cient authority  over  her  troops  to  carry  out  the  stipula- 
tions. Saladin,  like  a  true  and  noble  gentleman  as  he 
was,  disdained  to  take  a  mean  advantage  of  her  failure, 
and  allowed  both  the  lady  and  her  son  to  proceed  to 
Tyre.  In  the  meantime  he  sent  troops  to  reduce  Kerek 
and  Shobek.  Kokeb  still  maintained  an  obstinate 
resistance,  and  Saladin,  leaving  an  officer  with  five 
hundred  men  behind  him  to  continue  the  siege,  and 
posting  a  regiment  of  five  hundred  cavalry  at  Safad  to 
harass  the  Christians  in  that  quarter,  left  for  Damascus, 
which  he  reached  on  the  5th  of  March,  1187.  Here  he 
received  intelligence  of  the  approach  of  his  army  from 
the  east,  and,  remaining  only  a  week  in  his  capital,  he 


A  SSA  ULT  OF  BURZIYEH.  44i 

again  set  out  for  Baalbekk,  whence  he  marched  on  to 
Lebweh,  and  was  there  joined  by  'Emad-ed-din,  Lord  of 
Sanjar,  with  his  division.  Disencumbering  themselves 
of  all  the  heavy  baggage,  the  combined  forces  hurried 
on  to  the  sea-coast.  Several  months  were  consumed  in 
military  operations  against  the  Franks  without  any 
decisive  engagement  taking  place,  though  one  after 
another,  Jebeleh,  Laodicea,  Sion,  Bekas,  and  other 
towns  and  fortresses  fell  into  the  sultan's  hands,  and 
materially  increased  his  resources  by  the  quantity  of 
arms  and  provisions  which  they  contained.  The  fort  of 
Burziyeh  gave  him  more  trouble.  This  castle  enjoyed 
the  reputation  of  being  the  strongest  in  Palestine,  and 
was  situated  upon  a  lofty  mountain  nearly  1,700  feet 
high,  with  steep  escarpments,  and  surrounded  by  deep 
valleys.  Notwithstanding  its  formidable  character, 
Saladin  determined  to  attack  it,  and  on  the  morning 
after  his  arrival  (August  21st)  he  ascended  the  heights 
with  his  troops,  both  cavalry  and  infantry,  and  the 
whole  of  his  siege  train,  and  surrounded  the  fortress 
on  every  side.  For  two  days  and  nights  a  continuous 
assault  was  made  upon  the  walls  with  the  battering- 
rams,  and  projectiles  were  thrown  into  the  midst  of  the 
castle  without  intermission.  On  the  morning  of  the 
23rd  preparations  were  made  for  taking  the  place  by 
storm  :  the  whole  army  was  divided  into  three  parts, 
each  of  which  was  to  carry  on  the  assault  for  a  portion 
of  the  day,  so  as  to  give  the  besieged  no  interval  of 
rest.  The  first  division,  under  'Emad-ed-din,  com- 
menced the  attack  with  the  early  morning  light,  and 
the  contest  raged  on  both  sides  with  unexampled  fury ; 
at  last  'Emad-ed-din's  men,  beginning  to  flag,  were  re- 
lieved by  the  second  division,  commanded  by  the  sultan 
in  person.     Placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  storm- 


442  JERUSALEM. 


ing-party,  Saladin  called  out  to  his  soldiers  to  follow 
him  to  victory :  answering  his  appeal  by  a  long  and 
enthusiastic  shout,  they  swarmed  like  one  man  up  the 
rocks  and  battlements,  carrying  everything  before  them, 
and  poured  into  the  fortress.  The  defenders,  driven 
back  from  the  walls,  now  began  to  cry  out  for  quarter ; 
but  it  was  too  late,  the  blood  of  the  Muslims  was  fairly 
aroused,  and  even  Saladin's  presence  and  authority 
could  not  for  some  time  stop  the  indiscriminate 
slaughter.  At  last  order  was  partially  restored,  the 
prisoners — an  immense  number — were  secured,  and  the 
soldiers,  loaded  with  booty,  returned  in  triumph  to  their 
tents.  Amongst  the  captives  were  the  sister  of  the 
Prince  of  Antioch  (to  whom  the  castle  belonged),  her 
husband,  daughter,  and  son-in-law  ;  these  were  all 
treated  by  the  conqueror  with  the  greatest  kindness  and 
consideration,  and  were,  together  with  a  few  of  their 
immediate  followers,  allowed  to  depart  free  and  un- 
molested. The  fall  of  Burziyeh  was  closely  followed 
by  that  of  Diresak  and  Bukras,  both  strongholds  of  the 
Templars  near  Antioch.  The  last  of  the  two  was  a 
great  depot  of  provisions,  and  by  its  capture  a  large 
quantity  of  grain  fell  into  the  Saracens'  hands. 

Saladin  next  turned  his  attention  to  Antioch  itself, 
but  the  prince  of  that  town,  knowing  that  it  was  not 
sufficiently  well  furnished  either  with  provisions  or  arms 
to  support  a  long  siege,  deemed  it  more  prudent  to 
come  to  terms.  A  truce  was  therefore  concluded  for 
five  months,  and  an  exchange  of  prisoners  made. 

At  Bukras  the  sultan  took  leave  of  'Emad-ed-din, 
Zanghi,  and  the  Syrian  contingent,  who  had  done  him 
good  service  in  the  late  campaign.  Both  the  chief  and 
his  soldiery  received  substantial  marks  of  Saladin's 
gratitude,  who  bestowed  upon  them  liberal  presents  in 


SUCCESSES  IN  SYRIA.  443 


addition  to  the  share  of  prize-money  which  had  been 
already  allotted  to  them. 

Saladin  then  proceeded  with  his  own  army  by  way  of 
Aleppo,  Hamath,  and  Baalbekk  to  Damascus,  whither 
his  men  were  desirous  of  returning  in  time  to  keep  the 
fast  of  Ramadhan.  Anxiety,  however,  for  the  success 
of  the  military  operations  which  he  had  confided  to  his 
various  generals  would  not  allow  him  to  remain  long  in 
idleness,  and  in  the  beginning  of  October  he  set  out  for 
Safad.  On  the  way  he  was  joined  by  his  brother,  El 
Melik  el  ''Adil,  who  had  just  concluded  the  siege  of 
Kerek  in  Moab,  that  place  having  capitulated  after 
a  protracted  resistance.  Safad  held  out  until  the 
30th  of  November,  when  it  was  ceded  to  Saladin's 
forces  ;  the  defenders  obtained  quarter  by  the  release  of 
a  number  of  Muslim  prisoners,  who  were  in  their  hands, 
and  received  permission  to  withdraw  to  Tyre.  The 
Christians  hoped  to  make  up  for  the  loss  of  this  im- 
portant stronghold  by  strengthening  their  position  at 
Kokeb,  which  was  blockaded  by  one  of  Saladin's 
generals.  They  accordingly  despatched  two  hundred 
picked  men  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  Muslims  at  a  certain 
difficult  part  of  the  road  and  attack  them  at  a  dis- 
advantage. But  a  company  of  Mohammedan  troops 
happened  to  come  across  a  straggler  from  this  party, 
who,  to  save  himself,  betrayed  his  companions,  and 
pointed  out  the  ambuscade  in  the  valley.  The  whole 
two  hundred  were  captured  and  brought  to  the  Saracen 
leader.  Amongst  the  prisoners  were  two  chiefs  of  the 
Knights  Hospitallers,  and  being  carried  before  the 
sultan,  one  of  them  said,  '  Thank  God,  we  shall  come 
to  no  harm,  now  that  we  have  looked  upon  your 
highness's  face.' 

'This  speech,'  says  the  Arab  writer,  'must  have  been 


444  JERUSALEM. 


dictated  by  Divine  inspiration,  for  nothing  else  could 
have  induced  the  sultan  to  spare  their  lives ;  as  it  was, 
he  set  them  both  at  liberty.' 

The  great  addition  to  the  besieging  force,  combined 
with  the  extreme  cold  and  scarcity  of  provisions,  proved 
too  much  for  the  endurance  of  the  garrison  of  Kokeb, 
and  in  the  beginning  of  January,  1189,  it  was  added  to 
the  list  of  the  sultan's  conquests.  After  this,  Saladin 
and  his  brother  returned  to  Jerusalem,  where  the  latter 
took  leave  of  him  and  set  out  for  Egypt  with  his 
division  of  the  army. 

The  sultan  then  proceeded  to  Acre,  and  spent  some 
time  in  fortifying  and  otherwise  providing  for  the  safety 
and  good  government  of  the  town,  which  he  handed 
over  to  the  care  of  one  Baha-ed-din  Caracosh,  who  had, 
in  the  meantime,  arrived  from  Egypt  with  a  large  fol- 
lowing. Towards  the  end  of  March  he  commenced  a 
tour  of  inspection  throughout  his  Syrian  dominions, 
visiting  in  turn  Tiberias,  Damascus,  and  other  places. 
On  the  21st  of  April  he  reached  the  Shakif  Arnon, 
near  which  he  encamped  in  the  plain  called  Merj  'Ayun. 
The  fortress  of  the  Shakif  was  in  the  hands  of  Renaud, 
Lord  of  Sidon,  who  came  in  person  to  the  sultan,  and 
begged  for  three  months'  grace  to  enable  him  to  remove 
his  family  from  Tyre,  alleging  that,  if  the  Marquis  of 
Montferrat  should  get  intelligence  of  what  he  had  done, 
his  family  would  be  detained  there  as  hostages.  The 
sultan  acceded  to  his  request,  and  refrained  from 
attacking  his  castle.  Renaud,  however,  took  advantage 
of  this  leniency  to  strengthen  his  own  position,  and 
made  secret  but  active  preparations  for  war.  Saladin, 
discovering  the  treachery,  gave  orders  for  blockading 
the  fort,  whereupon  Renaud  again  endeavoured  to 
induce  him  to  grant  a  year's  cessation  of  hostilities ; 


ACRE  INVESTED.  445 

but  the  sultan  was  not  to  be  deceived  a  second  time, 
and,  some  officers  he  had  sent  to  inspect  the  castle 
reporting  that  the  work  of  fortification  was  still  being 
carried  on,  arrested  the  count,  and  sent  him  a  prisoner 
to  Banias.  Sending  for  him  a  few  days  afterwards,  he 
upbraided  him  with  his  perfidy,  and  despatched  him 
for  safe  keeping  to  Damascus.  As  for  the  castle,  the 
sultan  established  a  close  blockade,  although  it  was  full 
twelve  months  before  it  was  finally  ceded  to  his 
lieutenant.  While  the  sultan  was  encamped  in  the 
Merj  'Ayun,  the  Frank  forces  were  concentrating 
around  Tyre,  which  the  marquis  had  contrived  to  make 
the  greatest  stronghold  in  Syria,  and  in  which  the  last 
hope  of  the  Christian  arms  was  placed. 

On  the  3rd  of  July  they  made  an  attempt  upon  Sidon, 
but  were  repulsed  by  Saladin — whose  scouts  brought 
him  timely  notice  of  the  manoeuvre — though  not  with- 
out considerable  loss  on  either  side. 

After  this  Saladin  retired  to  Tiberias,  and  occupied 
some  time  in  making  preparation  for  a  decisive  attack 
upon  the  Christian  camp.  Meanwhile,  the  Christians 
were  by  no  means  idle,  but  dispersed  themselves  over 
the  country  in  various  directions,  committing  much 
depredation,  and  harassing  the  Mohammedan  troops, 
who  were  continually  falling  into  their  ambuscades. 

On  the  22nd  of  August  Saladin  received  news  that 
the  Franks  had  collected  their  forces  by  land  and  sea, 
and  were  bearing  down  upon  Acre,  a  detachment 
having  already  reached  Alexandretta,  where  they  had 
had  a  slight  skirmish  with  the  Muslims.  The  sultan 
hastily  issued  orders  for  collecting  the  army  together, 
and  hurried  off  to  the  relief  of  the  town.  Having 
arrived  at  Sefuriyeh,  he  left  his  heavy  baggage,  and 
pushed  on  to  Acre  with   all  speed  ;    but  the    Franks 


446  JERUSALEM. 

were  before  him,  and  had  already  invested  the  place, 
rendering  the  approach  impossible  for  his  troops. 

On  the  13th  of  September  he  made  a  desperate  on- 
slaught upon  the  besieging  lines,  drove  the  Franks  to  a 
hill  called  Tell  es  Siyasiyeh,  and  thus  established  a  free 
communication  with  the  city  on  the  north  side. 

On  the  21st  of  September  the  Franks  assembled 
towards  the  close  of  the  day  and  attacked  the  Muslims 
in  full  force ;  the  latter,  however,  withstood  the  shock, 
and  both  sides  fought  with  great  fury,  but  night  coming 
on  compelled  them  to  desist  from  hostilities. 

On  the  24th  the  sultan  moved  to  Tell  es  Siyasiyeh, 
which,  from  its  commanding  position,  appeared  to  him 
a  very  important  post  to  occupy.  Here  information 
was  brought  him  that  the  Franks^  were  dispersed  over 
the  country  in  foraging  parties,  and,  without  loss  of 
time,  he  despatched  companies  of  Arabs,  whose 
familiarity  with  guerilla  warfare  peculiarly  adapted 
them  for  such  service,  to  intercept  them.  The  Bedawin 
horsemen  bore  down  upon  the  small  detached  parties, 
cut  them  off  from  the  camp,  and,  slaughtering  them 
almost  without  resistance,  carried  their  heads  in 
triumph  to  Saladin. 

On  the  3rd  of  October  the  Franks  made  a  desperate 
onslaught  upon  Saladin's  troops  ;  a  fierce  battle  ensued, 
in  which  victory  inclined  to  the  Christians,  and  the 
Muslims  were  compelled  to  flee,  some  to  Tiberias,  and 
others  to  Damascus.  While  the  victors  were  occupied 
in  pillaging  the  sultan's  camp  a  panic  suddenly  seized 
them  ;  the  Muslims  rallied,  and  attacked  their  left, 
completely  defeating  them,  and  killing  more  than  five 
thousand  cavalry,  amongst  whom  was  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  Templars.  The  bodies  of  the  Franks 
lay  in  such  numbers  on  the  field    of  battle   that   the 


ARRIVAL  OF  THE  EGYPTIAN  FLEET.  447 

Muslims  were  much  annoyed  by  the  stench,  and  the 
soldiers  were  employed  for  some  days  in  throwing  the 
carcasses  into  the  sea. 

Saladin  now  dismissed  the  Egyptian  contingent, 
bidding  them  return  in  the  spring,  and  both  sides  pre- 
pared for  the  winter,  which  was  already  setting  in  with 
great  severity.  The  Franks  fortified  their  camp,  and 
dug  a  fosse  round  the  town  of  Acre,  extending  from 
sea  to  sea.  The  sultan  had,  in  the  meantime,  removed 
to  his  old  camp  at  Kharubeh,  where  the  heavy  bag- 
gage lay.  The  news  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  was  en  route  for  Syria  stimulated 
both  parties  to  further  exertions,  and  the  warlike  pre- 
parations went  on  with  greater  activity  than  ever. 

On  the  13th  of  December  the  Egyptian  fleet — which 
the  sultan  had  ordered  to  be  prepared  on  the  first 
landing  of  the  Franks  at  Acre — arrived,  with  a  com- 
plement of  more  than  ten  thousand  men.  This 
reinforcement  gave  great  confidence  to  the  Muslim 
troops,  and  constant  raids  were  made  by  the  new- 
comers upon  the  Christian  lines.  The  arrival  of  a 
Frank  ship,  laden  with  women,  about  this  time,  seemed 
to  have  demoralized  both  armies  ;  for  the  ladies  appear 
to  have  been  somewhat  indifferent  as  to  religion  and 
nationality,  and  to  have  bestowed  their  favours  upon 
Christian  and  Muslim  alike,  according  as  one  or  the 
other  happened  to  meet  them  on  landing.  The  Arab 
writers,  however,  speak  of  many  Christian  women  who 
were  animated  by  the  true  Crusading  spirit ;  and  it  was 
no  uncommon  occurrence  to  find  upon  the  field  of  battle, 
or  amongst  the  prisoners,  many  champions  of  the 
softer  sex.  The  new  year,  a.d.  1190,  came  in,  and 
found  things  in  statu  quo,  the  town  besieged  by  the 
Franks,  and  the  latter  in  turn  hemmed  in  by  the  sultan's 


448  JERUSALEM. 


forces.  Saladin  himself,  ever  actively  engaged  in  inspect- 
ing his  lines,  was  exposed  to  constant  dangers  ;  on  one 
occasion,  having  ventured  out  hunting  on  the  beach,  he 
would  inevitably  have  been  taken  prisoner  by  a  party 
of  the  enemy,  had  not  the  advanced  guard  of  his 
own  army,  which  was  stationed  in  the  neighbourhood, 
luckily  come  up  in  time  to  effect  a  rescue.  Constant 
communications  were  kept  up  between  the  town  and  the 
sultan's  army  by  means  of  carrier  pigeons  and  of  divers, 
who  managed  to  swim  past  the  enemy's  lines,  and  carry 
letters  and  money  to  and  fro  between  them.  The 
Franks  had  constructed  towers,  battering-rams,  and 
other  engines  of  war,  with  great  skill,  and  would  have, 
no  doubt,  accomplished  the  taking  of  the  city  by  storm, 
had  it  not  been  for  a  certain  cunning  artificer  from 
Damascus,  who  succeeded  in  destroying  them  one  by 
one  with  rockets,  naphtha,  and  other  combustibles, 
which  he  directed  upon  the  works. 

The  winter  and  spring  passed  away  without  any 
decisive  change  in  the  relative  position  of  the  two 
armies  ;  but  on  the  13th  of  June,  1190,  a  second  naval 
reinforcement  arrived  from  Egypt,  and  the  sultan 
endeavoured,  by  an  attack  by  land,  to  divert  the  atten- 
tion of  the  enemy,  and  enable  the  marines  to  land. 
The  Frank  ships,  however,  were  not  idle,  and  several 
severe  engagements  took  place  by  sea,  in  which  the 
Muslims  had  decidedly  the  disadvantage.  Presently 
news  arrived  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany  had 
crossed  over  from  Constantinople,  and  had  been  for 
more  than  a  month,  during  the  severest  season  of 
winter,  in  great  straits,  his  army  being  compelled  to 
devour  their  cavalry  horses  for  want  of  food,  and  to 
burn  their  pontoons  in  the  absence  of  firewood. 

On  reaching  Tarsus  the  army  halted  to  drink  at  the 


DISASTERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  ARMY.  449 

river  which  flows  by  the  city,  and  the  emperor  being 
driven,  in  the  crowd  and  confusion,  to  a  deep  part  of 
the  stream,  where  there  was  a  rapid  current,  was 
hurried  away  by  the  force  of  the  stream,  received  a 
blow  on  the  head  from  an  overhanging  bough,  and  was 
taken  out  in  an  insensible  and  almost  lifeless  condition. 
A  violent  chill  and  fever  were  the  result,  which  ter- 
minated after  a  few  hours  in  his  death.  His  son 
succeeded  him  in  the  command,  and  arrived  at  Acre 
with  the  remnant  of  a  fine  army  in  a  miserable  plight, 
and  entirely  dispirited  by  such  a  succession  of  re- 
verses. 

The  Franks,  when  they  heard  of  the  approach  of 
the  son  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  were  afraid  that 
he  would  appropriate  all  the  credit  of  the  campaign, 
and  determined  to  make  a  final  effort  before  he  arrived. 
Accordingly  at  noon,  on  the  25th  of  July,  they  attacked 
the  camp  of  El  Melik  el  "Adil.  He  withstood  the 
charge,  and  managed  to  drive  back  the  enemy  without 
waiting  for  the  rest  of  the  troops  to  come  up.  At  this 
juncture  the  sultan  arrived  upon  the  scene  with  a  large 
number  of  men,  and  attacked  the  Franks  in  the  rear. 
A  complete  victory  for  the  Muslims  was  the  result, 
more  than  ten  thousand  of  the  enemy  falling,  with  a 
loss,  it  is  said,  of  only  ten  men  on  the  other  side. 

The  arrival  of  Count  Henry  with  a  large  following 
and  much  wealth  gave  fresh  courage  to  the  disheartened 
Christian  forces.  The  count  distributed  large  sums 
amongst  the  soldiery ;  and  the  siege  of  Acre  was  pro- 
secuted with  more  vigour  than  ever.  Provisions  now 
became  very  scarce  and  dear  in  the  Christian  camp,  and 
many  of  the  soldiers,  compelled  by  actual  starvation, 
came  over  as  deserters  to  the  Mohammedan  lines. 

A  few  battles  were  fought,  always  with  disadvantage 

29 


45o  JERUSALEM. 


to  the  Franks,  many  of  whom  were  also  killed  or  taken 
prisoner  in  the  ambuscades  which  the  Muslims  were 
continually  laying  for  them.  On  the  31st  of  December 
seven  ships  arrived  from  Egypt  with  provisions  for  the 
relief  of  the  town,  and  while  the  inhabitants  were  en- 
gaged in  assisting  them  to  escape  the  enemy's  fleet  and 
get  into  port,  the  Christians  took  advantage  of  the  walls 
being  partially  deserted,  to  make  a  desperate  effort  to 
take  the  place  by  storm.  The  scaling-ladders,  how- 
ever, broke  with  the  weight  of  the  men  ;  the  storming- 
parties  were  thrown  into  disorder,  and  the  Muslims,  on 
the  alarm  being  given,  left  the  ships  to  themselves,  and 
rushing  up  to  the  walls  drove  back  or  cut  to  pieces 
their  assailants.  The  incident  was  disastrous  to  both 
sides,  for  a  sudden  storm  coming  on  carried  the  seven 
ships  out  to  sea,  where  they  perished  with  all  the  crews 
and  supplies.  A  few  nights  afterwards,  a  portion  of 
the  eastern  wall  of  the  city  fell  down,  but  the  defenders 
thrust  their  bodies  into  the  breach  so  promptly,  that 
the  Franks  were  unable  to  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunity. 

Two  curious  stories  are  told  of  this  period  of  the 
war.  One  is,  that  a  party  of  Frank  renegades,  having 
obtained  possession  of  a  small  vessel,  landed  upon  the 
Island  of  Cyprus  during  the  celebration  of  a  feast. 
They  immediately  proceeded  to  the  principal  church  of 
the  place,  entered  it,  and  mixed  with  the  congregation 
who  were  assembled  there  in  prayer.  Suddenly  they 
started  up,  locked  the  door,  and  completely  sacked  the 
building,  carrying  away  more  than  twenty-seven 
prisoners,  women  and  children,  whom  they  sold  at 
Laodicaea.  The  other  story  is  that  some  Moham- 
medan, looting  the  Christian  camp,  had  stolen  an 
infant,  three  months  old,  from  its  mother's  arms.     The 


PRISONERS  BURNT  ALIVE.  451 

>ereaved  parent  rushed  over  to  the  enemy's  camp, 
ind,  before  she  could  be  stopped  by  the  guards  and 
:hamberlains,  appeared  before  the  sultan's  tents, 
amenting  her  loss,  and  beseeching  him  to  restore  her 
:hild.  Saladin  caused  inquiries  to  be  made,  and  find- 
ng  that  the  infant  had  been  purchased  by  one  of  his 
oldiers,  ransomed  it  with  his  own  hand,  and  gave  it 
>ack  to  its  mother. 

A  brig  belonging  to  the  Mohammedans  and  bound 
or  Acre,  with  seven  hundred  men  onboard  and  a  large 
mantity  of  arms  and  munitions  of  war,  came  into 
collision  with  one  of  King  Richard's  English  vessels. 
rhe  Mohammedan  captain,  finding  himself  worsted  in 
he  fight,  burnt  his  ship,  which  perished  with  all  hands, 
rhis  was  the  first  serious  disaster  which  the  Moham- 
nedans  had  experienced.  In  June,  1190,  hostilities 
vere  carried  on  with  renewed  vigour,  and  engagements 
vere  of  daily  occurrence.  On  one  occasion,  after  a 
light  skirmish,  the  Franks  retired  with  a  single  cap- 
ive,  and  having  got  out  of  bow-shot  of  the  Muslim 
amp  they  made  a  bonfire  and  roasted  their  prisoner 
live.  The  Muslims,  maddened  at  the  insult  and 
arbarity,  brought  out  one  of  their  Frank  prisoners, 
nd,  by  way  of  reprisal,  burnt  him  in  front  of  their 
nes.  El  'Emad,  Saladin's  secretary,  who  relates  the 
icident,  describes  with  much  feeling  the  effect  pro- 
uced  upon  the  minds  of  all  the  spectators  by  this 
xhibition  of  savage  ferocity. 

The  crisis  was  evidently  approaching.  The  Franks 
udeavoured  to  delude  the  sultan  into  inactivity  by  pro- 
osals  for  peace,  while  they  were  at  the  same  time 
astening  on  their  preparations  for  a  final  assault  upon 

ere.  Saladin,  however,  was  constantly  informed  of 
ie  state  of  things  within  the  city,  and  knew  that  it 

29 — 2 


452  JERUSALEM. 


could  not  hold  out  much  longer ;  he  therefore  refused 
to  listen  to  terms,  but  used  all  means  in  his  power  to 
force  on  a  battle,  and  on  the  night  of  the  2nd  of  July 
he  attacked  the  enemy's  trenches,  and  succeeded  in 
forcing  a  position  at  one,  though  not  a  very  important, 
point. 

At  this  juncture,  Seif-ed-din  el  Mashtub,  momentarily 
expecting  the  city  to  be  taken  by  storm,  came  out  with 
a  flag  of  truce  to  make  an  offer  of  capitulation,  and 
demand  quarter  on  behalf  of  the  inhabitants.  King 
Richard  received  him  with  his  usual  bluntness,  and 
refused  to  grant  the  request.  When  El  Mashtub  re- 
minded him  of  the  clemency  which  his  master  Saladin 
had  exercised  upon  similar  occasions,  Richard  answered 
curtly  :  *  These  kings  whom  thou  seest  around  me  are 
my  servants  ;  but  as  for  you,  ye  are  my  slaves  ;  I  shall 
do  with  you  as  I  please.'  The  Saracen  emir  returned 
to  Acre  highly  indignant  at  this  discourteous  treatment, 
and  swore  that  the  fall  of  the  city  should  cost  the 
victors  dear. 

When  El  Mashtub  made  known  the  ill-success  of  his 
errand  many  of  the  chief  men  and  emirs  of  Acre  de- 
serted the  city,  to  the  great  chagrin  of  the  sultan,  who 
condemned  them  to  forfeiture  of  their  estates,  and  other 
pains  and  penalties.  This  severity,  and  the  charge  of 
cowardice,  induced  some  to  return  and  take  part  once 
more  in  the  defence  of  the  town. 

On  the  4th  of  July  a  great  battle  took  place,  and  lasted 
until  the  morning  of  the  5th,  but  without  any  decided 
advantage  on  either  side.  Evening  again  came  and 
found  them  in  the  same  position  ;  the  city  surrounded 
by  the  enemy,  and  the  enemy  surrounded  by  Saladin's 
army.  But  on  Saturday  the  6th  the  Prince  of  Sidon 
sallied  forth  from  the  trenches  with  about  forty  knights, 


PROPOSALS  FOR  CAPITULATION.  453 

and  rode  into  the  sultan's  camp  carrying  a  flag  0* 
truce.  Saladin  sent  Najib-ed-din,  one  of  his  confi- 
dential officers,  to  arrange  with  him  the  terms  on  which 
the  city  should  be  capitulated.  At  first  the  Franks 
refused  to  listen  to  any  other  terms  than  the  complete 
surrender  of  all  the  Christian  possessions  in  Syria  and 
Palestine,  and  the  release  of  all  the  captives.  It  was 
then  proposed  that  Acre  should  be  ceded  to  the  Chris- 
tians, that  its  garrison  and  inhabitants  should  be 
allowed  to  leave  unmolested,  and  that  an  exchange 
of  prisoners  should  be  made,  one  Christian  being  re- 
leased by  the  Muslims  for  every  one  of  their  own  men 
given  up  by  the  Christians.  These  terms  were  also 
refused,  and  Saladin's  magnificent  offer  to  throw  the 
'True  Cross'  into  the  bargain  could  not  induce  them 
to  agree.  Perhaps  the  relic  had  fallen  into  disfavour 
after  its  failure  at  Tiberias,  or  it  might  be  that  the 
Crusaders  were  beginning  to  rely  more  upon  their  own 
military  prowess  than  upon  the  childish  superstitions 
of  the  fetish-worshipping  monks. 

On  the  22nd  of  July  the  Christians  effected  a  breach 
in  the  walls,  and  were  with  difficulty  prevented  from 
entering  the  city.  El  Mashtub  again  sought  Richard's 
camp  with  offers  of  capitulation,  and  this  time  with 
better  success.  It  was  agreed  that  the  lives  and  pro- 
perty of  the  defenders  of  Acre  should  be  spared  on  con- 
dition of  their  paying  two  hundred  thousand  dinars, 
releasing  five  hundred  captives,  and  giving  up  possession 
of  the  True  Cross. 

Suddenly,  therefore,  much  to  the  sultan's  surprise  and 
annoyance,  the  Christian  standards  were  seen  flying 
from  the  walls  of  Acre.  He  immediately  despatched 
Baha-ed-din  Caracosh  to  make  the  best  arrangements 
possible,  and  promised  to  pay  half  the  amount  of  the 


454  JERUSALEM. 


indemnity  at  once,  and  give  hostages  for  the  settlement 
of  the  remainder  of  the  claim  within  a  month.  Hos- 
tilities were  not  suspended  in  the  meantime,  and  the 
Franks,  having  made  several  sallies  from  their  new 
position  at  Acre,  suffered  severely  from  the  Arab  horse- 
men, who  continually  came  down  unexpectedly  on 
them  and  cut  off  their  retreat. 

In  the  beginning  of  August  messengers  came  from 
the  Christian  camp  to  demand  payment  of  the  sum 
agreed  upon.  The  first  instalment  of  a  hundred 
thousand  dinars  was  given  up  to  them,  but  Saladin 
refused  to  pay  the  rest,  or  to  hand  over  the  captives 
until  he  had  received  some  guarantee  that  the  Chris- 
tians would  perform  their  part  of  the  contract,  and 
allow  the  prisoners  from  Acre  to  go  free.  After 
numerous  delays  and  disagreements  everything  ap- 
peared at  last  likely  to  be  satisfactorily  arranged  ;  the 
money  was  weighed  out  and  placed  before  Saladin,  the 
captives  were  ready  to  be  delivered  up,  and  the  '  True 
Cross  '  was  also  displayed.  Richard  was  encamped 
close  by  the  Merj  'Ayun,  and  had  caused  the  Acre 
captives  to  be  ranged  behind  him  on  the  neighbouring 
hillside.  Suddenly,  at  a  signal  from  the  king,  the 
Christian  soldiers  turned  upon  the  unhappy  and  help- 
less captives,  and  massacred  them  all  in  cold  blood. 
Even  at  such  a  moment  as  this  Saladin  did  not  forget 
his  humane  disposition  and  his  princely  character.  The 
proud  Saladin  disdained  to  sully  his  honour  by  making 
reprisals  upon  the  unarmed  prisoners  at  his  side ;  he 
simply  refused  to  give  up  the  money  or  the  cross,  and 
sent  the  prisoners  back  to  Damascus. 

Which  was  the   Paynim,  and  which  the  Christian, 
then  ? 

In  the  first  week   of  September  the  Franks  deter- 


DESTRUCTION  OF  ASCALON.  455 

mined  to  march  upon  Ascalon,  and,  having  provided 
for  the  safety  of  Acre,  set  off  in  that  direction.  El 
Afdhal,  who  was  in  command  of  the  advanced  guard, 
intercepted  them  on  their  road,  and  managed  to  divide 
them  into  two  separate  parties.  He  then  sent  off 
an  express  to  his  father  Saladin,  requesting  him  to  come 
to  his  assistance,  but  the  officers  of  the  sultan  repre- 
sented to  him  that  the  army  was  not  yet  prepared  to 
move ;  the  opportunity  was  therefore  lost,  and  the 
Franks  were  enabled  to  pass  on  to  Caesarea.  The  Mus- 
lims, however,  shortly  afterwards  started  in  pursuit, 
and  on  the  nth  of  September  they  came  up  with  the 
enemy,  and  a  bloody  battle  was  fought  by  the  Nahr  el 
Casb  near  Caesarea.  The  next  day  both  armies  moved 
off  to  Arsuf;  a  battle  took  place  on  the  road,  and  the 
Franks  retired  with  considerable  loss  into  the  town, 
while  the  Muslims  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  River 
'Aujeh. 

In  a  few  days  they  again  fought  their  way  along  the 
coast,  and  on  the  19th  of  September  the  Christian 
army  succeeded  in  reaching  Jaffa,  while  the  sultan 
with  his  troops  encamped  at  Ramleh  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day. 

Here  he  waited  for  the  heavy  baggage,  and  when 
this  arrived  in  charge  of  his  brother,  El  ''Adil,  he  moved 
on  to  Ascalon.  A  council  of  war  was  immediately  held, 
at  which  it  was  decided  to  destroy  the  fortifications  of 
the  last-named  town.  As  the  Franks  were  in  posses- 
sion of  Jaffa,  which  lies  about  half-way  between  Ascalon 
and  Jerusalem,  it  was  clearly  impossible  to  defend  both 
towns  without  the  maintenance  of  an  overwhelming 
force  in  each,  and  as  Saladin  felt  sure  that  Ascalon,  if 
besieged,  would  share  the  fate  of  Acre,  he  determined 
to  raze  it  to  the  ground,   and  concentrate  his  efforts 


456  JERUSALEM. 


upon  the  defence  of  Jerusalem.  The  work  of  demoli- 
tion was  at  once  commenced,  and  the  city,  one  of  the 
finest  in  Palestine,  soon  became  a  mass  of  ruins  ;  the 
inhabitants  suffered  severely  by  this  transaction,  for 
they  were  obliged  to  sell  their  property  at  ruinous 
prices,  and  dispersed  themselves  over  the  country,  to 
find  a  home  where  best  they  could. 

The  intermediate  fortresses  of  Lydda,  Ramleh,  and 
Latrun  were  next  destroyed,  and  on  the  14th  of  Octo- 
ber the  sultan  camped  on  a  high  hill  near  the  latter 
town.  A  few  unimportant  engagements  had  in  the 
meantime  taken  place  between  the  two  armies,  in  one 
of  which  Richard  narrowly  escaped  being  taken  pri- 
soner. 

Negotiations  were  now  reopened  between  El  Melik 
el  '  Adil  and  King  Richard,  and  a  peace  was  actually 
arranged,  upon  the  stipulation  that  Richard  should 
give  his  sister  in  marriage  to  El  ''Adil,  and  that  the 
husband  and  wife  should  occupy  the  throne  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  jointly  rule  over  the  Holy  Land.  The 
Grand  Masters  of  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers  were 
to  occupy  certain  villages,  but  they  were  not  to  retain 
possession  of  any  of  their  castles.  The  queen  was  to 
have  no  military  attendants  in  Jerusalem,  although  a 
certain  number  of  priests  and  monks  were  still  to  be 
allowed  there. 

El  ''Adil  called  the  principal  men  of  the  army  around 
him,  El  'Emad,  Saladin's  secretary,  amongst  the  num- 
ber, and  deputed  them  to  consult  the  sultan's  wishes 
upon  the  subject.  The  latter  agreed  to  the  conditions, 
and  on  the  30th  of  October  the  messengers  returned  to 
King  Richard  to  inform  him  of  the  acceptance  of  his 
proposal. 

The    Frank  chiefs,   however,    strongly   opposed  the 


FA IL  URE  OF  NEGOTIA  TIONS.  45 

match,  while  the  priests  poisoned  the  princess's  mind, 
and  induced  her  to  withdraw  from  the  engagement, 
except  on  the  condition  that  El  ''Adil  should  embrace 
the  Christian  religion.  This,  of  course,  he  declined  to 
do,  and  the  negotiations  fell  through.  The  sultan  then 
moved  off  to  Ramleh,  so  as  to  be  nearer  the  enemy. 
Here  news  was  brought  him  that  the  Franks  had  made 
a  sortie  at  Barzur ;  hastening  against  them,  he  ap- 
proached their  camp  and  completely  surrounded  it, 
but  the  Christians  charged  fiercely  and  suddenly,  and 
broke  through  the  Mohammedan  ranks. 

On  the  18th  another  conference  was  held  between 
El  "Adil  and  the  King  of  England,  but  again  their 
attempts  at  negotiations  failed.  The  Lord  of  Sidon, 
who  had  come  from  Tyre,  was  more  fortunate,  and  con- 
cluded a  peace  with  the  sultan,  hoping  by  this  means 
to  strengthen  his  own  hands  against  Richard.  The 
latter,  on  this,  again  renewed  his  proposals,  but  they, 
as  usual,  came  to  nothing,  for  whenever  an  arrange- 
ment was  on  the  point  of  being  concluded  his  bad  faith 
or  stupidity  rendered  it  abortive. 

There  was  now  no  longer  any  doubt  but  that  the 
Franks  were  bent  upon  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  City, 
and  as  winter  was  coming  on  apace,  the  sultan  retired, 
on  the  14th  of  December,  within  the  walls  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  occupied  himself  with  the  fortification  of  the 
town.  He,  however,  provided  for  the  safety  of  the 
country  between  Jerusalem  and  Jaffa  by  posting 
brigades  of  soldiers  in  the  various  passes  and  defiles 
upon  the  road. 

A  party  of  workmen  opportunely  arrived  at  this  time 
from  Mosul,  despatched  by  the  sovereign  of  that  place, 
who  also  sent  money  to  pay  them.  These  were  em- 
ployed   in    digging    the    trenches,    and    remained    six 


458  JERUSALEM. 


months  engaged  upon  the  work.  In  addition  to  this, 
Saladin  built  a  strong  wall  round  the  town,  at  which 
he  compelled  more  than  two  thousand  Frank  prisoners 
to  labour.  He  repaired  the  towers  and  battlements 
between  the  Damascus  and  Jaffa  gates,  expending 
upon  them  an  immense  sum  of  money,  and  employing 
in  their  construction  the  large  stones  which  were 
quarried  out  in  cutting  the  trench.  His  sons,  his 
brother,  El  ''Adil,  and  other  princes  of  his  court,  acted 
as  overseers  of  the  work,  whilst  he  himself  daily  rode 
about  from  station  to  station  encouraging  the  labourers, 
and  even  bringing  in  building-stones  upon  the  pommel 
of  his  saddle.  His  example  was  followed  by  all  classes 
of  inhabitants,  and  the  work  of  fortification  went  on 
with  great  rapidity.  By  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1192  the  wall  was  completed,  the  trenches  were  dug, 
and  the  inhabitants  awaited  with  complacency  the 
arrival  of  the  besieging  army.  On  the  20th  of  January 
the  Franks  left  Ramleh,  and  had  advanced  as  far  as 
Ascalon,  when  they  suddenly  changed  their  intention 
of  marching  upon  Jerusalem  and  stayed  to  rebuild  the 
demolished  city.  El  Mashtub,  who  had  been  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Franks,  but  had  purchased  his  ransom 
for  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dinars,  of  which  he  had 
actually  paid  thirty  thousand  (and  given  pledges  for 
the  rest),  came  to  Jerusalem  on  the  18th  of  March. 
The  sultan  received  him  graciously,  and  gave  him  the 
town  of  Nablus  and  its  vicinity  as  a  compensation  for 
his  heavy  pecuniary  loss.  The  general  did  not,  how- 
ever, live  long  to  enjoy  his  good  fortune,  but  died  in 
the  course  of  the  year,  bequeathing  a  third  of  his  estate 
to  the  sultan,  and  leaving  the  rest  to  his  son. 

On  the  29th  of  March  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  was 
assassinated  at  Tyre  by  two  men  as  he  was  leaving  the 


FORT  DARUM  TAKEN.  459 

house  of  the  bishop,  where  he  had  just  been  entertained 
at  a  repast.  The  murderers  were  at  once  arrested, 
and  put  to  an  ignominious  death ;  not,  however,  until 
they  had  confessed  that  it  was  the  King  of  England 
who  had  instigated  them  to  the  deed.  Many  attempts 
have  been  made  by  historians  to  clear  King  Richard's 
character  from  this  foul  blot,  and  a  letter  purporting  to 
come  from  the  '  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  '  accepting 
the  responsibility  of  the  act  is  triumphantly  appealed 
to.  The  document  in  question  is,  however,  a  trans- 
parent forgery,  and  the  unscrupulous  character  and 
savage  brutality  of  the  lion-hearted  king  afford  only  too 
good  reason  for  believing  the  dying  testimony  of  the 
actual  perpetrators  of  the  crime.  At  any  rate,  Richard 
alone  profited  by  it,  and  obtained  possession  of  Tyre, 
which  he  subsequently  made  over  to  Count  Henry  of 
Champagne.  On  the  death  of  the  marquis,  Richard 
again  endeavoured  to  come  to  terms  with  Saladin, 
proposing  to  divide  the  country  equally  between  the 
latter  and  himself,  and  to  leave  all  Jerusalem  and  its 
fortifications  in  possession  of  the  Muslims,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

A  greal  reverse  was  experienced  by  the  Moham- 
medans about  this  time  by  the  fall  of  Darum,  a  strong 
fortress,  situated  on  the  border  of  the  Egyptian 
territory  beyond  Gaza.  The  Franks  stormed  the  town 
after  having  effected  a  breach  in  the  walls,  and  refused 
quarter  to  the  inhabitants.  The  governor,  finding  all 
hope  of  further  resistance  gone,  escaped  to  Hebron  ;  the 
superintendent  of  stores,  however,  remained,  and 
determining  that  the  besiegers  should  reap  as  little 
profit  as  possible  from  their  conquest,  hamstrung  all 
the  beasts  of  burden  and  burnt  them.  When  the 
Christians  entered  the  city  they  put  nearly  every  one 


460  JERUSALEM. 

of  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  reserving  only  a  few 
prisoners,  for  whom  they  thought  they  might  obtain  a 
heavy  ransom.  Several  other  engagements  took  place 
in  the  same  neighbourhood,  in  which  the  Franks  were 
not  so  successful,  and  on  the  3rd  of  April  they  divided 
their  camp  into  two  parties,  one  making  its  headquarters 
at  Ascalon,  and  the  other  pitching  at  Beit  Jibrin. 
Jerusalem  was  now  threatened  with  an  immediate 
attack,  but  the  vigilance  of  the  sultan  warded  off  the 
blow,  and  a  determined  sortie  compelled  the  enemy  to 
retire  to  Colonia. 

The  sultan  had  sent  frequent  messengers  to  Egypt 
to  hurry  on  the  departure  of  the  army  which  was  being 
levied  in  that  country  for  the  relief  of  Jerusalem. 
Falek-ed-din,  El  ''Adil's  brother,  who  was  in  command, 
pitched  his  tents  at  Bilbeys  ;  whence,  as  soon  as  his 
numbers  were  complete,  he  set  off,  followed  by  an 
immense  concourse  of  merchants  and  traders  who  had 
taken  advantage  of  the  military  escort  across  the 
desert.  On  the  23rd  of  June  news  reached  the  sultan 
that  the  Egyptian  contingent  were  on  the  march,  but 
that,  relying  on  their  numbers,  they  were  proceeding 
without  due  caution,  while  the  King  of  England  with  a 
large  force  was  lying  in  wait  for  them  upon  the  road. 
Saladin  sent  off  an  officer  at  the  head  of  a  division  to 
meet  the  approaching  force,  with  orders  to  conduct 
them  round  by  the  desert  and  take  them  over  the  River 
of  El  Hesy  before  the  enemy  should  come  upon  them. 
Falek-ed-din,  however,  did  not  take  any  means  to 
inform  himself  concerning  the  place  of  rendezvous,  but 
taking  the  shortest  road,  and  sending  his  heavy 
baggage  round  by  another  way,  he  called  a  halt,  and 
encamped  for  the  night  beside  a  spring  called  El 
Khaweilifeh.     With  the  early  dawn  next  morning  the 


ROUT  OF  THE  EGYPTIAN  CONTINGENT.         461 

enemy  came  suddenly  upon  them,  and  a  scene  of  in- 
describable confusion  ensued.  The  Muslims  started 
up  from  their  sleep,  ran  frantically  off  in  any  direction 
that  was  open  to  them,  and  thus  escaped  in  the 
twilight.  Their  baggage,  arms,  and  equipments  fell,  of 
course,  into  the  enemy's  hands ;  this  was  so  far  fortu- 
nate, for  if  the  Franks  loved  slaughter  well,  they  loved 
plunder  better,  and  there  was  sufficient  to  turn  their 
attention  from  pursuing  the  fugitives  of  the  Egyptian 
force  thus  completely  broken  up  and  routed ;  some 
wandered  back  to  Egypt,  not  a  few  were  lost  in  the 
desert,  and  a  miserable  remnant  found  their  way  by 
Kerak  to  Jerusalem,  where  the  sultan  received  them 
kindly  and  condoled  with  them  upon  their  misfortune. 

The  Crusaders,  being  unsuccessful  against  Jerusalem, 
determined  to  make  an  expedition  against  Beirut,  as 
the  occupation  of  that  port  was  most  important  for 
their  communications  with  home,  and  its  conquest 
seemed  likely  to  prove  an  easy  matter. 

But  they  had  miscalculated  the  tactics  of  the  man 
with  whom  they  had  to  deal ;  Saladin,  who  appears 
throughout  to  have  possessed  the  fullest  information 
respecting  their  movements,  sent  orders  to  his  son,  El 
Afdhal,  at  Damascus,  to  prepare  for  their  reception. 
Accordingly,  when  they  reached  the  sea-coast  of  Syria 
they  found  Beirut  occupied  by  the  Damascene  troops, 
and  a  large  army  awaiting  them  in  the  Merj  'Ayun, 
which  prevented  the  Franks  in  Acre  from  coming  to  the 
assistance  of  their  comrades.  Taking  advantage,  also, 
of  their  absence,  Saladin  bore  down  upon  Jaffa,  which, 
in  the  absence  of  King  Richard,  could  not  hold  out  for 
long.  The  Muslims  had  already  effected  an  entry  into 
the  city,  and  were  about  to  take  possession  of  the 
fortress,   when    Saladin,   who   could    never    refuse    a 


462  JERUSALEM. 


petition  for  quarter,  and  whose  experience  of  the 
Crusaders'  good  faith  had  not  yet  taught  him  prudence, 
allowed  himself  to  be  prevailed  upon  by  promises  of 
submission  on  the  part  of  the  patriarch  and  other  chief 
men  of  the  town  to  grant  a  day's  delay  and  treat  about 
the  terms  of  capitulation.  Of  this  concession  the 
Christians,  as  usual,  took  a  mean  advantage,  and  while 
they  deluded  the  sultan  with  false  oaths  and  promises, 
they  were  sending  express  messengers  to  hasten  the 
return  of  Richard,  who  unexpectedly  arrived  by  sea  in 
the  very  midst  of  the  negotiations  and  took  possession 
of  the  citadel.  The  Muslims  thus  lost  much  of  the 
advantage  which  their  victory  gave  them,  but  they  still 
retained  possession  of  the  town  itself,  and  recovered 
the  greater  part  of  the  property  which  had  been 
plundered  from  the  Egyptian  contingent. 

Both  parties  were  now  at  a  dead-lock  ;  the  Franks 
on  their  side  could  not  hope  to  take  Jerusalem,  and  the 
Muslims  on  theirs  were  unable  to  drive  the  Christians 
out  of  the  country.  Richard  was  the  first  to  propose 
an  armistice ;  but  Saladin  still  held  out,  and  strenu- 
ously urged  upon  his  officers  the  necessity  for  con- 
tinuing the  jehad,  or  '  Holy  War.'  But  the  Moham- 
medan chiefs  were  weary  of  continued  fighting  without 
decisive  results,  and  as  strongly  urged  upon  the  sultan 
that  the  army  required  rest,  and  that  peace  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  enable  the  country  to  recover  its 
industrial  activity,  the  repression  of  which  had  already 
caused  so  much  misery  to  the  inhabitants.  An  appeal 
to  Saladin  on  behalf  of  a  suffering  community  was 
never  made  in  vain,  and  he  consented  to  forego  the 
attractions  of  military  glory  for  the  sake  of  his  people's 
prosperity.  A  truce  of  three  years  and  eight  months, 
both  by  land  and  sea,  was  ultimately  agreed  upon,  com- 


A  TRUCE  CONCLUDED.  463 

mencing  2nd  of  September,  1192.  The  crusading 
princes  and  generals  took  solemn  oaths  to  observe  the 
conditions  of  the  treaty,  with  the  sole  exception  of 
King  Richard,  who  held  out  his  hand  to  the  Saracen 
sultan,  and  said  that  '  There  was  his  hand  upon  it, 
but  a  king's  word  might  be  taken  without  an  oath.' 
Saladin  returned  his  grasp,  and  professed  himself  satis- 
fied with  that  mode  of  ratifying  the  truce.  He  prob- 
ably felt  that  in  this  frank  and  cordial  demonstration 
he  had  a  better  guarantee  of  Richard's  good  faith  than 
any  oath  would  have  afforded  ;  for  bitter  experience 
had  taught  him  that  so  long  as  an  unscrupulous  priest 
remained  to  give  the  sanction  of  the  Church  to  an  act 
of  perfidious  meanness,  a  Crusader's  oath  was  of  little 
value.  The  terms  of  the  truce  were,  that  the  sea-board 
from  Jaffa  to  Csesarea,  and  from  Acre  to  Tyre,  should 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Franks,  and  that  Ascalon 
should  not  be  rebuilt  ;  the  sultan,  on  his  side,  insisted 
that  the  territory  of  the  Ismaelites  should  be  included 
in  the  truce,  and  the  Franks  on  theirs  demanded  a 
similar  privilege  for  Antioch  and  Tripoli ;  Lydda  and 
Ramleh  were  to  be  considered  common  ground. 
Saladin,  on  the  conclusion  of  the  truce,  occupied  him- 
self in  strengthening  the  walls  and  fortifications  of 
Jerusalem  ;  and  the  Crusaders,  having  free  access  to 
the  city,  commenced  visiting  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in 
crowds,  and,  to  judge  from  the  accounts  given  of  their 
behaviour,  this  privilege,  for  which  they  had  been 
fighting  so  long,  was  after  all  but  lightly  esteemed. 
King  Richard  begged  Saladin  not  to  allow  anyone  to 
visit  the  city  without  a  written  passport  from  himself, 
hoping  by  this  means  to  keep  up  the  devotional  long- 
ings of  his  followers,  and  so  to  induce  them  to  return  at 
the  expiration  of  the  truce.     Saladin's  keen  penetration 


464  JERUSALEM. 

at  once  detected  the  impolicy  of  such  a  step,  while  his 
sense  of  honour  revolted  against  its  discourtesy;  the 
request  was,  therefore,  refused.  Richard  shortly  after 
this  fell  ill,  and  leaving  the  government  in  the  hands  of 
his  nephew,  Count  Henry,  he  sailed  away,  and  left  the 
Holy  Land  for  ever.  Saladin,  whose  restless  energy 
and  religious  zeal  would  not  allow  him  to  remain  long 
in  idleness,  prepared  for  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and 
had  actually  written  to  Egypt  and  to  Arabia  to  make 
the  necessary  arrangements ;  but  at  the  instance  of  his 
officers,  who  represented  to  him  the  urgent  need  which 
the  country  stood  in  of  his  presence,  he  relinquished 
his  intention. 

After  a  tour  through  Syria,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
provided  for  the  safety  and  good  government  of  the 
towns  through  which  he  passed,  redressing  the  wrongs 
of  the  people,  punishing  those  who  exercised  injustice 
or  oppression,  and  rewarding  all  whose  administration 
had  been  moderate  and  just,  he  returned  to  Damascus, 
after  an  absence  of  four  years,  during  the  whole  of 
which  time  he  had  been  incessantly  occupied  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Holy  War.  His  arrival  was  hailed 
with  the  greatest  demonstrations  of  joy ;  the  city  was 
illuminated,  and  for  days  the  people  made  holiday  to 
celebrate  the  return  of  their  beloved  sovereign,  the 
saviour  of  El  Islam.  But  their  joy  was  short-lived,  for 
on  the  21st  of  February,  1193,  he  was  seized  with  a 
bilious  fever,  and  after  lingering  for  twelve  days  he  ex- 
pired, and  was  buried  in  the  citadel  of  Damascus,  in 
the  apartments  in  which  he  died.  A  short  time  after- 
wards the  sultan's  remains  were  removed  to  the  tomb 
which  they  now  occupy,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Great 
Mosque,  and  which  had  been  prepared  for  their  recep- 
tion by  his  son,  El  Afdhal.      Saladin  was  nearly  fifty- 


CHARACTER  OF  SALADIN.  465 

seven  years  old  when  he  died ;  his  father,  Aiyub,  was 
the  son  of  a  certain  Kurd,  a  native  of  Davin,  named 
Shad,  and  a  retainer  of  'Emad-ed-din  Zanghi,  father  of 
the  celebrated  Sultan  Nur-ed-din,  of  Damascus.  From 
him  the  dynasty  was  called  the  Kurdish  or  Aiyubite 
dynasty.  At  the  outset  of  his  career  Saladin  delighted 
to  emulate  his  great  namesake,  Yusuf  es  Sadik,  the 
Joseph  of  Scripture  story  ;  in  pursuance  of  this  idea  he 
sent  for  his  father  to  Egypt,  immediately  upon  his  ac- 
cession to  power,  and  offered  to  give  up  all  authority 
into  his  hands.  This  Aiyub  declined,  and  contented 
himself  with  the  honourable  and  lucrative  post  of  Con- 
troller of  the  Treasury,  with  which  his  son  entrusted 
him.  The  father  was  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse 
while  his  son  was  absent  upon  one  of  his  expeditions 
against  the  Christians  at  Kerak.  No  better  proof  can 
be  given  of  the  respect  and  esteem  which  Saladin's 
many  virtues  naturally  commanded  than  the  terms 
upon  which  he  lived  with  his  brother  and  other  rela- 
tives. In  spite  of  the  too  frequent  application  of  the 
proverb  which  says  that  '  the  Turk  can  bear  no  brother 
near  the  throne,'  we  do  not  hear  of  a  single  instance 
of  jealousy  or  insubordination  being  exhibited  against 
his  authority  by  any  member  of  his  house  or  court, 
while  his  subjects  absolutely  idolized  him.  Saladin 
knew  how  to  win  the  affection  of  his  troops  while  he 
made  his  authority  felt,  and  his  example  restrained  in 
them  that  license  which  war  too  often  engenders. 
Courteous  alike  to  friend  and  foe,  faithful  to  his 
plighted  word,  noble  in  reverses  and  moderate  in 
success,  the  Paynim  Saladin  stands  forth  in  history 
as  fair  a  model  of  a  true  knight  sans  peur  et  sans  reprochc 
as  any  which  the  annals  of  Christian  chivalry  can 
boast. 

30 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  MOHAMMEDAN  PILGRIMS. 

'  Proclaim  unto  the  people  a  solemn  pilgrimage  ;  let  them  come 
unto  thee  on  foot,  and  on  every  lean  camel,  arriving  from  every 
distant  road  ;  that  they  be  witnesses  of  the  advantages  which  accrue 
from  visiting  this  holy  place.' — CoSdn,  cap.  xxii.  vv.  28,  29. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  pilgrimages  in  Islam,  the 
Hajj  and  the  Ziydreh.  The  first  is  the  greater  pilgrim- 
age to  the  shrine  of  Mecca,  and  this  it  is  absolutely  in- 
cumbent upon  every  Muslim  to  perform  once  at  least 
in  his  life.  As  the  injunction  is,  however,  judiciously 
qualified  by  the  stipulation  that  the  true  believer  shall 
have  both  the  will  and  the  power  to  comply  with  it,  a 
great  many  avoid  the  tedious  and  difficult  journey. 
The  second,  or  Ziydreh,  consists  in  '  visiting  '  the  tombs 
of  saints,  or  other  hallowed  spots,  and  is  an  easier  and 
more  economical  means  of  grace,  as  the  pilgrim  can 
choose  his  shrine  for  himself.  Next  to  that  of  Mecca  and 
Medina,  the  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  is  most  esteemed 
by  Mohammedan  devotees  ;  and,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  political  exigencies  have,  on  more  occasions  than 
one,  caused  it  to  be  substituted  for  the  more  orthodox 
and  genuine  Hajj.  While  all  Muslims  are  enjoined  to 
visit  Mecca,  they  are  recommended  to  go  to  Jerusalem. 
Plenary  indulgence  and  future  rewards  are  promised  to 
those  who  visit  the  Holy  City,  and  the  effect  of  all 
prayers,  and  the  reward  or  punishment  of  good  or  evil 


TRADITIONAL  SITES.  467 

works,  are  doubled  therein.  Such  as  are  unable  to  ac- 
complish the  journey  may  send  oil  to  furnish  a  lamp, 
and  as  long  as  it  burns  the  angels  in  the  place  will  pray 
for  the  sender.  As  for  those  who  build,  repair,  or 
endow  any  portion  of  the  Mosque,  they  will  enjoy  pro- 
longed life  and  increased  wealth  on  earth,  as  well  as  a 
reward  in  heaven.  The  Roman  Church  is  not  singular 
in  its  successful  dealings  with  rich  and  moribund 
sinners. 

The  pilgrim,  in  entering  the  Haram,  puts  his  right 
foot  forward,  and  says,  '  O  Lord,  pardon  my  sins,  and 
open  to  me  the  doors  of  Thy  mercy.'  As  he  goes  out 
he  repeats  the  customary  benediction  upon  Mohammed, 
and  exclaims,  '  O  Lord,  pardon  my  sins,  and  open  to 
me  the  doors  of  Thy  grace.'  In  entering  the  Cubbet 
es  Sakhrah  he  should  be  careful  to  keep  the  Holy 
Rock  upon  his  right  hand,  so  that  in  walking  round  it 
he  may  exactly  reverse  the  proceeding  in  the  case  of 
the  Tawwaf,  or  circuit  of  the  Ka'abeh  at  Mecca.  He 
should  then  enter  the  cave  which  is  beneath  the 
Sakhrah  with  humility  of  deportment,  and  should  first 
utter  the  formula  called  'the  Prayer  of  Solomon,'  viz., 
'  O  God,  pardon  the  sinners  who  come  here,  and  relieve 
the  injured.'  After  this,  he  may  pray  for  whatsoever 
he  pleases,  with  the  assurance  that  his  request  will  be 
granted. 

As  he  is  conducted  about  the  Haram  es  Sherif  the 
various  sacred  spots  are  pointed  out  to  him,  and  when 
he  has  performed  the  requisite  number  of  prostrations, 
and  repeated  the  appropriate  prayer  dictated  by  his 
guide,  the  story  or  tradition  of  each  is  solemnly  related 
to  him.  Thus,  on  approaching  the  '  Holy  Rock '  he  is 
told  that  it  is  one  of  the  rocks  of  Paradise  ;  that  it 
stands  on  a  palm-tree,  beneath  which  flows  one  of  the 

30—2 


468  JERUSALEM. 


rivers  of  Paradise.  Beneath  the  shade  of  this  tree 
Asia,  the  wife  of  Pharaoh,  who  is  said  to  have  been 
the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world,  and  Miriam, 
the  sister  of  Moses,  shall  stand  on  the  Day  of  Resur- 
rection, to  give  drink  to  the  true  believers. 

This  Sakhrah  is  the  centre  of  the  world,  and  on  the 
Day  of  Resurrection  the  angel  Israfil  will  stand  upon 
it  to  blow  the  last  trumpet.  It  is  also  eighteen  miles 
nearer  heaven  than  any  other  place  in  the  world  ;  and 
beneath  it  is  the  source  of  every  drop  of  sweet  water 
that  flows  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  supposed  to 
be  suspended  miraculously  between  heaven  and  earth. 
The  effect  upon  the  spectators  was,  however,  so  startling 
that  it  was  found  necessary  to  place  a  building  round 
it,  and  conceal  the  marvel. 

The  Cadam  es  Sherif,  or  '  Footstep  of  the  Prophet,' 
is  on  a  detached  piece  of  a  marble  column,  on  the 
south-west  side  of  the  Sakhrah.  It  is  reported  to  have 
been  made  by  Mohammed,  in  mounting  the  beast 
Borak,  preparatory  to  his  ascent  into  heaven  on  the 
night  of  the  'M'iraj.' 

Before  leaving  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  the  pilgrim  is 
taken  to  pray  upon  a  dark-coloured  marble  pavement 
just  inside  the  gate  of  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  called 
Bab  el  Jannah ;  some  say  that  this  is  the  spot  upon 
which  the  prophet  Elias  prayed,  others  that  it  covers 
the  tomb  of  King  Solomon.  All  agree  that  it  is  a 
stone  which  originally  formed  part  of  the  pavement  of 
Paradise. 

A  descent  into  the  Magharah  or  cave  beneath  the 
Sakhrah — a  reverential  salutation  of  the  '  tongue  of 
the  rock,'  a  broken  column  slanting  against  the  roof  of 
the  cave — a  prayer  before  the  marks  of  the  Angel 
Gabriel's  fingers — and,  if  he  be  a  Shi'ah,  a  fervent  pros- 


TRADITIONAL  SITES.  469 

tration  before  a  piece  of  iron  bar  which  does  duty  as 
the  sword  of  'Ali  ibn  Abi  Talib,  '  the  Lion  of  God.' 
These,  with  a  few  others  of  less  interest,  complete  the 
objects  of  special  devotion  in  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah 
itself. 

On  issuing  forth  into  the  open  court  more  wonders 
meet  his  eye.  First,  there  is  the  beautiful  Cubbet  es 
Silsileh,*  or  Dome  of  the  Chain ;  it  derives  its  name 
from  a  tradition  that  in  King  Solomon's  time  a  mira- 
culous chain  was  suspended  between  heaven  and  earth 
over  this  particular  spot.  It  was  possessed  of  such 
peculiar  virtue  that  whenever  two  litigants  were  unable 
to  decide  their  quarrel  they  had  but  to  proceed  together 
to  this  place,  and  endeavour  each  to  seize  the  chain, 
which  would  advance  to  meet  the  grasp  of  him  who 
was  in  the  right,  and  would  elude  all  efforts  of  the 
other  to  catch  it.  One  day  two  Jews  appealed  to  the 
ordeal ;  one  accused  the  other  of  having  appropriated 
some  money  which  he  had  confided  to  his  keeping,  and, 
swearing  that  he  had  not  received  it  back,  laid  hold  of 
the  chain.  The  fraudulent  debtor,  who  had  artfully 
concealed  the  money  in  the  interior  of  a  hollow  staff 
upon  which  he  was  leaning,  handed  it  to  the  claimant, 
and  swore  that  he  had  given  back  the  money.  He 
also  was  enabled  to  seize  the  chain,  and  the  bystanders 
were  hopelessly  perplexed  as  to  the  real  state  of  the 
case.  From  that  moment  the  chain  disappeared, 
feeling  doubtless  that  it  had  no  chance  of  supporting 
its  character  for  legal  acumen  in  the  midst  of  a  city 
full  of  Jews. 

The  place,  however,  still  retains  some  of  its  judicial 
functions,  and,  if  we  are  to  credit  Arab  historians, 
perjury  is  an  exceedingly  dangerous  weapon  in  the 
*  Also  called  Mahkamet  Da'ud,  or  the  Tribunal  of  David. 


47o  JERUSALEM. 


neighbourhood  of  the  Sakhrah.  It  is  related  that  the 
Caliph  'Omar  ibn  'Abd  el  'Aziz  ordered  the  stewards  of 
his  predecessor,  Suleiman,  to  give  an  account  of  their 
stewardship  upon  oath  before  the  Sakhrah.  One  man 
alone  refused  to  swear,  and  paid  a  thousand  dinars 
rather  than  do  so  ;  in  a  year's  time  he  was  the  only 
survivor  of  them  all.  The  Constantinople  cabinet 
might  take  a  hint  from  this. 

On  the  right  hand  of  the  Sakhrah,  in  the  western 
part  of  the  court,  is  a  small  dome  called  the  Cubbet  el 
M'iraj,  or  '  Dome  of  the  Ascent,'  which  marks  the 
spot  from  which  Mohammed  is  supposed  to  have 
started  upon  his  '  heavenly  journey.'  It  is,  of  course, 
one  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  Muslim  pilgrims' 
devotion.  The  present  dome  was  erected  in  the  year 
597,  on  the  site  of  an  older  one  which  had  fallen  into 
ruins,  by  a  certain  governor  of  Jerusalem  named  Ez 
Zanjeli. 

The  Macam  en  Nebi,  or  '  Prophet's  Standpoint,'  is 
celebrated  from  its  connection  with  the  same  event.  It 
is  now  occupied  by  an  elegant  pulpit  of  white  sculp- 
tured marble. 

At  the  end  of  the  Haram  Area,  on  the  eastern  side,  is 
a  spot  known  as  Sukel  Ma'rifah  (Market  of  Knowledge), 
behind  the  praying-place  of  David.  The  tradition 
attaching  to  this  spot  is,  that  when  any  of  the  ancient 
Jewish  occupants  of  the  city  had  committed  any  sin, 
he  wrote  up  over  the  door  of  his  own  house  a  notice  of 
the  fact,  and  came  to  the  Market  of  Knowledge  to  pray 
for  forgiveness.  If  he  obtained  his  request,  he  found 
the  written  confession  obliterated  from  his  door,  but  if 
the  writing  still  remained  the  poor  Jew  was  rigorously 
cut  off  from  all  communication  with  his  kind  until  the 
miraculous  signature  of  pardon  was  accorded   him.     A 


TRADITIONAL  SITES.  471 

little  lower  down  on  the  same  side  is  a  small  apartment 
containing  an  ancient  marble  niche,  resembling  in  shape 
the  ordinary  Mohammedan  mihvdb ;  this  is  usually 
known  as  "Mehd  'Eisa  or  '  Jesus'  Cradle.'  although  some 
of  the  Muslim  doctors,  with  greater  regard  for  the 
antiquarian  unities,  call  it  *  Mary's  Prayer-niche.'  The 
pilgrim  enters  the  place  with  reverence,  and  repeats  the 
Silrat  Miry  am,  a  chapter  of  the  Coran  which  gives  the 
Mohammedan  account  of  the  birth  and  ministry  of  our 
Lord. 

By  the  Jami'  en  Nisa,  or  '  Woman's  Mosque,'  form- 
ing part  of  the  Jami'  el  Aksa,  is  a  well,  on  the  left  of 
the  great  entrance,  called  Bir  el  Warakah,  or  '  Well  of 
the  Leaf.'  The  story  goes  that  during  the  caliphate  of 
'Omar  a  man  of  the  Beni  Temim,  named  Sherik  ibn 
Haiyan,  dropped  his  bucket  into  this  well,  and  climbing 
down  to  fetch  it  up,  found  a  door,  into  which  he  entered. 
Great  was  his  surprise  at  seeing  a  beautiful  garden,  and 
having  walked  about  in  it  for  some  time,  he  plucked  a 
leaf  and  returned  to  tell  his  companions  of  his  strange 
adventure.  As  the  leaf  never  withered,  and  the  door 
could  never  again  be  found,  no  doubt  was  entertained 
but  that  this  was  an  entrance  into  Paradise  itself,  and 
as  such  the  well  is  now  pointed  out  to  the  pilgrim. 

The  bridge  of  Es  Sirat,  that  will  be  extended  on  the 
Day  of  Judgment  between  heaven  and  hell,  is  to  start 
from  Jerusalem,  and  the  pilgrim  is  shown  a  column, 
built  horizontally  into  the  wall,  which  is  to  form  its 
first  pier. 

The  Muslim  guide  will  wax  eloquent  upon  this,  his 
favourite  subject,  the  connection  between  the  Day  of 
Judgment  and  the  Masjid  el  Aksa  ;  and  as  the  pilgrim 
stands  upon  the  eastern  wall  he  will  hear  a  circum- 
stantial account  of  the  troubles  and  the  signal  deliverance 


472  JERUSALEM. 


which  shall  come  upon  the  true  believers  in  the  latter 
day. 

Dajjal,  or  Antichrist  (he  learns),  will  not  be  allowed 
to  enter  Jerusalem,  but  will  stop  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  Jordan  while  the  faithful  remain  on  the  western 
side.  Then  Christ,  who  will  reappear  to  save  the  true 
believers,  will  take  up  three  of  the  stones  of  Jerusalem, 
and  will  say  as  he  takes  up  the  first,  *  In  the  name  of 
the  God  of  Abraham  ;'  with  the  second,  *  In  the  name 
of  the  God  of  Isaac  ;'  and  with  the  third,  '  In  the 
name  of  the  God  of  Jacob.'  He  will  then  go  out  at  the 
head  of  the  Muslims,  Dajjal  will  flee  before  him,  and  be 
slain  by  the  three  stones.  The  victors  will  then  pro- 
ceed to  a  general  massacre  of  the  Jews  in  and  around 
the  Holy  City,  and  every  tree  and  every  stone  shall 
cry  out  and  say, '  I  have  a  Jew  beneath  me  ;  slay  him.' 
Having  done  this  the  Messiah  will  break  the  crosses 
and  kill  the  pigs,  after  which  the  Millennium  will  set 
in. 

The  last  sign  which  is  to  precede  the  day  of  resur- 
rection is  that  the  Ka'abeh  of  Mecca  shall  be  led  as  a 
bride  to  the  Sakhrah  of  Jerusalem.  When  the  latter 
sees  it,  it  will  cry  out,  '  Welcome,  thou  Pilgrim  to  whom 
Pilgrimages  are  made.'  No  one  dies  until  he  has 
heard  the  sound  of  the  Muezzin  in  Jerusalem  calling  to 
prayer. 

The  pilgrims  to  the  Haram  es  Sherif  differ  but  little 
from  those  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Both  endure  great 
hardships,  exhibit  intense  devotion  and  ostentatious 
humility ;  and  both  believe  that  by  scrupulous  practice 
of  the  appointed  rites  and  observances  they  are 
advancing  a  claim  upon  the  favour  of  Heaven  which 
cannot  be  repudiated.  Both  delight  in  assuring  them- 
selves and  others  that  it  is  love  for  the  stones  on  which 


MOTIVES  OF  PILGRIMS.  473 

the  saints  have  trodden  which  brings  them  there,  but  if 
their  satisfaction  could  be  analyzed  it  would  be  found 
to  consist  in  a  sense  of  religious  security,  which  a 
learned  Muslim  doctor  has  quaintly  expressed  :  '  The 
dwellers  in  Jerusalem  are  the  neighbours  of  God  ;  and 
God  has  no  right  to  torment  His  neighbours.' 

As  with  us  in  Europe,  the  only  notices  of  Jerusalem 
during  the  Middle  Ages  are  derived  from  the  Crusaders 
and  early  pilgrims,  so  the  various  accounts  of  the  Holy 
City,  with  the  quaint  stories  and  traditions  attaching  to 
it,  with  which  Mohammed's  writings  teem,  are  all  due 
to  the  early  warriors  and  pilgrims  of  Islam. 

Of  these,  and  their  name  is  legion,  I  will  select  a  few 
of  the  most  eminent  in  order  that  the  reader  may  form 
some  idea  of  the  sources  from  which  the  Arab  historians 
have  drawn  their  information. 

The  Mohammedan  pilgrims  to  Jerusalem  range  them- 
selves naturally  into  two  great  classes  or  periods, 
namely,  those  who  '  came  over  with  the  conqueror ' 
'Omar,  or  who  visited  the  city  between  the  date  of  his 
conquest  and  the  second  Christian  kingdom,  and  those 
who  were  posterior  to  Saladin.  Of  all  the  Moham- 
medan pilgrims  to  Jerusalem,  the  first  and  the  most 
distinguished  was  Abu  'Obeidah  ibn  el  Jerrah,  to  whom, 
as  has  already  been  shown,  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem 
was  due. 

He  died  in  the  great  plague  at  'Amwas  (Emmaus), 
A.D.  639,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  was 
buried  in  the  village  of  Athma,  at  the  foot  of  Jebel 
'Ajlun,  between  Fukaris  and  El  ''Adiliyeh,  where  his 
tomb  is  still  pointed  out.  In  this  plague  no  less  than 
twenty-five  thousand  of  the  Muslim  soldiery  perished. 

Belial  ibn  Rubah,  Mohammed's  own  '  Muezzin,' 
accompanied  'Omar  to  Jerusalem.    He  was  so  devoutly 


474  JERUSALEM. 

attached  to  the  person  of  the  Prophet  that  he  refused 
to  exercise  his  office  after  Mohammed's  decease,  except 
on  the  occasion  of  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  City,  when 
he  was  prevailed  upon  by  the  caliph  once  more  to 
call  the  people  to  prayers  in  honour  of  so  great  an 
occasion. 

Khalid  ibn  el  Walid,  surnamed  the  '  Drawn  Sword  of 
God,'  was  also  present  with  the  victorious  army  of 
'Omar ;  he  died  in  the  year  641  a.d.,  and  was  buried, 
some  say,  at  Emessa,  and  others,  at  Medinah. 

'Abudat  ibn  es  Samit,  the  first  Cadhi  of  Jerusalem, 
arrived  with  'Omar ;  he  was  buried  in  the  Holy  City, 
but  his  tomb  disappeared  during  the  Christian  occu- 
pation. 

Another  interesting  member  of  the  first  pilgrim  band 
was  Selman  el  Farsi,  one  of  the  early  companions  of 
Mohammed.  Although  he  does  not  play  a  very  con- 
spicuous part  in  Mohammedan  history,  his  name  has 
acquired  a  strange  celebrity  in  connection  with  the 
mysterious  sect  of  the  Nuseiriyeh  in  Syria.  The  tenets 
of  this  people  are  so  extraordinary  and  so  little  known 
that  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  a  slight  account  of 
them  here. 

The  Nuseiriyeh  worship  a  mystic  triad,  consisting  of 
and  represented  by  'Ali,  the  son-in-law  and  successor  of 
Mohammed,  Mohammed  himself,  and  Selman  el  Farsi. 
These  are  alluded  to  as  'Ams,  a  mystical  word,  composed 
of  the  three  initial  letters  of  their  names ;  'Ali  being, 
moreover,  called  the  Mana,  or  'meaning,'  i.e.,  the 
object  implied  in  all  their  teaching,  Mohammed,  the 
chamberlain,  and  Selman  el  Farsi,  the  door.  To  under- 
stand this  we  must  remember  that  Eastern  sovereigns 
are  never  approached  except  through  the  mediation  of 
their  chamberlains ;  and  the  three  offices  will  therefore 


THE  NUSEIRIYEH.  475 


correspond  with  those  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  the  King 
of  Kings,  the  Mediator,  and  the  Door  of  Grace.  From 
this  triad  proceed  five  other  persons,  called  aitdm,  or 
monads,  whose  function  is  that  of  creation  and  order. 
Their  names  are  those  of  persons  who  played  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  early  history  of  Islam  ;  but  they 
are  evidently  identical  with  the  five  planets  known  to 
the  ancients,  and  their  functions  correspond  exactly 
to  those  of  the  heathen  deities  whose  names  the  planets 
bear. 

The  Nuseiriyeh  hold  the  doctrine  of  a  Fall,  believing 
that  they  originally  existed  as  shining  lights  and  brilliant 
stars,  and  that  they  were  degraded  from  that  high  estate 
for  refusing  to  recognise  the  omnipotence  of  'Ali. 

The  mystic  Trinity,  'Ams,  is  supposed  to  have 
appeared  seven  times  upon  the  earth,  once  in  each  of 
the  seven  cycles  into  which  the  history  of  the  world  is 
divided.  Each  of  these  manifestations  was  in  the 
persons  of  certain  historical  characters,  and  each 
avatar  was  accompanied  by  a  similar  incarnation  of 
the  antagonistic  or  evil  principle. 

The  devil  of  the  Nuseiriyeh  is  always  represented  as 
a  triune  being,  and,  carrying  out  the  principle  of 
affiliating  their  religious  system  upon  the  history  of 
Mohammedanism,  they  have  made  the  opponents  of 
'Ali  represent  the  personification  of  evil,  as  he  himself 
and  his  immediate  followers  are  the  personification  of 
good.  Thus  Abu  Bekr,  'Omar,  and  'Othman  are  con- 
sidered by  the  Nuseiriyeh  as  the  conjunct  incarnation 
of  Satan. 

They  believe  in  the  transmigration  of  souls,  and  that 
after  death  those  of  Mohammedans  will  enter  into  the 
bodies  of  asses,  Christians  into  pigs,  and  Jews  into 
apes.     As  for  their  own  sect,  the  wicked  will  become 


476  JERUSALEM. 


cattle,  and  serve  for  food ;  the  initiated  who  have  given 
way  to  religious  doubts  will  be  changed  into  apes ;  and 
those  who  are  neither  good  nor  bad  will  again  become 
men,  but  will  be  born  into  a  strange  sect  and  people. 

The  religion  professed  by  the  great  mass  of  the 
Nuseiriyeh  is,  indeed,  a  mere  melange  of  doctrines, 
dogmas,  and  superstitions,  borrowed  from  the  many 
creeds  which  have  at  various  times  been  dominant  in 
the  country;  and  yet  this  incongruous  jumble  serves 
as  a  cloak  for  a  much  more  interesting  creed,  namely, 
the  ancient  Sabsean  faith. 

The  Nuseiriyeh  conceal  their  religion  from  the  outer 
world  with  the  greatest  care,  and  do  not  even  initiate 
their  own  sons  into  its  mysteries  until  they  have 
arrived  at  years  of  discretion ;  the  women  are  never 
initiated  at  all. 

In  the  first  degree  or  stage  of  initiation,  they  are 
made  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  which  I  have 
given  .a  sketch;  in  the  second,  they  are  told  that  by  'Ams 
the  Christian  Trinity  is  intended ;  and  in  the  last,  or 
perfect  degree,  they  are  taught  that  this  Trinity,  the 
real  object  of  their  worship,  is  composed  of  Light,  or 
the  Sky,  the  Sun,  and  the  Moon,  the  first  being  il- 
limitable and  infinite,  the  second  proceeding  from  the 
first,  and  the  last  proceeding  from  the  other  two. 

The  five  monads  are,  in  this  stage,  absolutely  declared 
to  be  identical  with  the  five  planets. 

In  their  religious  ceremonies  they  make  use  of  hymns, 
libations  of  wine,  and  sacrifices ;  to  describe  them  in 
detail  would  be  out  of  place  in  this  work;  I  will, 
therefore,  only  mention  one,  which  has  an  exceptional 
interest. 

Amongst  the  ceremonies  observed  at  their  great  feast 
is  one  called  the  '  Consecration  of  the  Fragrant  Herb.' 


THE  NUSEIRIYEH.  477 

The  officiating  priest  takes  his  seat  in  the  midst  of  the 
assembly,  and  a  white  cloth,  containing  a  kind  of  spice 
called  mahlab,  camphor,  and  some  sprigs  of  olive  or 
fragrant  herb,  is  then  placed  before  him.  Two  at- 
tendants then  bring  in  a  vessel  filled  with  wine,  and 
the  master  of  the  house  in  which  the  ceremony  takes 
place,  after  appointing  a  third  person  to  minister  to 
them,  kisses  their  hands  all  round,  and  humbly  requests 
permission  to  provide  the  materials  necessary  for  the 
feast.  The  high  priest  then,  having  prostrated  himself 
upon  the  ground,  and  uttered  a  short  invocation  to 
certain  mystic  personages,  distributes  the  sprigs  of 
olive  amongst  the  congregation,  who  rub  them  in  their 
hands,  and  place  them  solemnly  to  their  nose  to  inhale 
their  fragrance. 

This  ceremony  would  alone  furnish  evidence  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  Nuseiriyeh  rites,  for  it  is  unquestionably 
the  same  as  that  alluded  to  by  Ezekiel  (viii.  17),  when 
condemning  the  idolatrous  practices  of  the  Jews.  In 
that  passage  the  prophet  (after  mentioning  '  women 
weeping  for  Tammuz,'  the  Syrian  Adonis,  '  twenty-five 
men  with  their  backs  toward  the  temple  of  the  Lord, 
and  their  faces  to  the  east,  worshipping  the  sun  in  the 
east,'  and  thus  showing  beyond  question  that  the  par- 
ticular form  of  idolatry  which  he  is  condemning  is  the 
sun-worship  of  Syria)  concludes  with  the  following 
words  :  '  Is  it  a  light  thing  which  they  commit  here  ? 
For  they  have  filled  the  land  with  violence,  and  have 
returned  to  provoke  Me  to  anger  :  and,  lo,  they  put  the 
branch  to  their  nose.'' 

The  more  sober  Muslim  historians  tell  us  that  Sel- 
man  el  Farsi  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-eight  or  ninety- 
nine  years ;  but  some  do  not  scruple  to  assert  that  he 
was  over  six  hundred  years  old,  and   had  personally 


478  JERUSALEM. 


witnessed  the  ministry  of  Christ.  Nothing  certain 
seems  to  be  known  of  him,  except  that  he  died  in  the 
year  a.d.  656,  and  no  reason  appears  for  his  deification 
by  the  Nuseiriyeh  except  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Persian, 
and  a  friend  of  'AH  ibn  Abi  Talib.  Abu  Dhurra  is 
another  of  the  companions  of  Mohammed,  deified  by 
the  Nuseiriyeh  (in  whose  pantheon  he  appears  as  the 
representative  of  the  planet  Jupiter),  and  is  also  said 
to  have  entered  Jerusalem  with  the  army  of  'Omar. 
He  is  buried  at  Medinah. 

Shedddd  ibn  Aus.  It  is  related  that  Mohammed, 
some  little  time  before  his  death,  predicted  that  Jeru- 
salem would  be  conquered,  and  that  Sheddad,  and  his 
sons  after  him,  would  become  Imams  (or  high  priests) 
there,  which  prediction  came  to  pass.  Sheddad  died 
in  Jerusalem,  a.d.  678,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  and 
was  buried  in  the  cemetery,  near  the  Bab  er  Rahman, 
close  under  the  walls  of  the  Haram  es  Sherif,  where  his 
tomb  is  still  honoured  by  the  faithful. 

The  Caliph  Mo'awiyeh  also  visited  Jerusalem  before 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  and  it  was  in  that  city  that 
the  celebrated  compact  was  made  between  him  and 
''Amir  ibn  el  ''As  to  revenge  the  murder  of  'Othman. 
He  died  in  Damascus,  on  the  1st  of  May,  a.d.  680. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  Mohammedan  pil- 
grims to  Jerusalem  was  Ka'ab  el  Ahbar  ibn  Mani',  the 
Himyarite,  familiarly  called  Abu  Is'hak.  He  was  by 
birth  a  Jew,  but  had  embraced  the  Muslim  religion 
during  the  caliphate  of  Abu  Bekr,  in  consequence,  as 
he  alleged,  of  his  finding  in  the  Book  of  the  Law  a 
prophecy  relating  to  Mohammed.  He  is  chiefly  re- 
membered as  having  pointed  out  to  'Omar,  whom  he 
accompanied  to  Jerusalem,  the  real  position  of  the 
Sakhrah.     The  following  tradition  is  also  ascribed  to 


FEMALE  PILGRIMS.  479 

him  :  that  'Jerusalem  once  complained  to  the  Almighty 
that  she  had  been  so  frequently  destroyed  ;  to  which 
God  answered,  "  Be  comforted,  for  I  will  fill  thee, 
instead,  with  worshippers,  who  shall  flock  to  thee  as 
the  vultures  to  their  nests,  and  shall  yearn  for  thee  as 
the  doves  for  their  eggs."  '  He  died  at  Hums  in  a.d. 
652. 

Sellam  ibn  Caisar  was  one  of  the  companions  of 
Mohammed,  and  acted  as  governor  of  Jerusalem  under 
the  Caliph  Mo'awiyeh. 

The  position  of  women  amongst  the  first  professors 
of  Islam  appears  to  have  been  much  more  honourable 
than  amongst  their  later  successors,  and  the  early 
annals  of  the  creed  contain  many  notices  of  gifted  and 
pious  women  who  appeared  to  have  exercised  no  small 
influence  over  the  minds  of  their  contemporaries.  One 
of  these  distinguished  females  was  Umm  el  Kheir,  a 
freed-woman  of  the  noble  family  of  'Agyl,  and  a  native 
of  Basora.  She  visited  Jerusalem,  where  she  died 
about  the  year  752.  Her  tomb  is  still  to  be  seen  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  in  a  retired  corner  south  of  the 
Chapel  of  the  Ascension  ;  and  is  much  frequented  by 
pilgrims.  It  is  related  that  Umm  el  Kheir,  one  day, 
in  the  course  of  her  devotions,  cried  out,  '  O  God, 
wilt  Thou  consume  with  fire  a  heart  that  loves  Thee 
so  ?'  When  a  mysterious  voice  replied  to  her,  '  Nay, 
we  act  not  thus  ;  entertain  not  such  evil  suspicions 
of  us.'  The  precept,  '  Conceal  your  virtues  as  you 
would  your  vices,'  is  also  attributed  to  the  same  saint. 

Safiyah  bint  Hai,  known  as  '  The  Mother  of  the  Faith- 
ful,' was  amongst  the  earliest  pilgrims  to  Jerusalem, 
having  visited  it  with  the  army  of  'Omar.  To  her  is 
attributed  the  tradition  that  the  division  of  the  wicked 
from  the  good  on  the  Day  of  Judgment  will  take  place 


480  JERUSALEM. 

from  the  top  of  the  Mount  of  Olives.     She  died  about 
the  year  670. 

An  anecdote  related  of  the  celebrated  Sufyan  eth 
Thori,  affords  a  good  example  of  the  devotion  and 
fervour  of  these  early  Mohammedan  pilgrims.  He  is 
said  to  have  repeated  the  whole  of  the  Coran  at  one 
sitting  in  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  and  on  one  occasion, 
when  he  had  prayed  until  he  was  completely  exhausted, 
he  bought  a  single  plantain  and  ate  it  in  the  shade  of 
the  mosque,  apologizing  for  even  this  indulgence  by  the 
remark,  '  The  ass  can  do  more  work  when  he  has  got 
his  fodder.'     He  died  at  Bosrah  a.d.  yyy. 

Al  Imam  es  Shafii',  one  of  the  most  learned  of  the 
Mohammedan  doctors,  and  the  founder  of  one  of  the 
chief  sects  into  which  the  religion  is  divided.  He  was 
born  in  767  a.d.,  the  same  year  in  which  Abu  Hanifeh, 
the  founder  of  the  Hanefite  sect,  died.  His  works, 
which  are  very  voluminous,  and  considered  by  his  fol- 
lowers as  next  in  authority  to  the  Coran  itself,  are  said 
to  have  been  all  written  within  the  space  of  four  years. 

The  following  fatwa,  or  legal  decision,  attributed  to 
him  during  his  stay  at  Jerusalem,  not  only  evinces  the 
great  erudition  and  readiness  for  which  he  was  so 
celebrated,  but  affords  an  amusing  specimen  of  the 
trifling  minutiae  upon  which  the  Mohammedan  doctors 
often  consent  to  dispute.  Having  established  himself 
in  the  Haram  es  Sherif,  he  professed  himself  ready  to 
answer  any  question  that  might  be  put  to  him,  con- 
cerning either  the  Coran  or  the  Sunneh,  that  is,  the 
written  or  oral  law.  '  What  should  you  say/  said  a 
person  present,  '  respecting  the  legality  of  killing  a 
wasp,  when  one  is  engaged  in  the  rites  of  the 
pilgrimage?'  Without  a  moment's  hesitation  the 
Imam  replied,  '  The  Coran  itself  tells  us  that  we  are  to 


EA  RL  Y  PIL  GRIMS.  4  8 1 

accept  whatsoever  the  prophet  has  granted  us,  and  to 
abstain  from  what  he  has  forbidden  us.  (Coran,  lix. 
7.)  Now,  Ibn  'Aiyinah  had  it  from  'Abd  el  Melik  ibn 
Amir,  who  had  it  from  Huzaifah,  that  the  prophet  said, 
"  Be  guided  in  all  things  by  my  immediate  successors, 
Abu  Bekr  and  'Omar."  But  Ibn  'Aiyinah  further 
relates  that  Mas'ud  told  him  that  Cais  ibn  Musallim 
was  informed  by  Tarik  ibn  Shihab,  that  'Omar  bade 
the  pilgrim  slay  the  wasp.'  Es  Snafu  died  at  Carafah 
es  Sughra,  in  Egypt,  on  the  20th  December,  a.d.  819. 

Mohammed  ibn  Karram,  the  founder  of  the  Karra- 
miyeh  sect,  resided  at  Jerusalem  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  and  died  there  in  the  year  869  A.D.  His 
doctrines  are  considered  by  the  majority  of  Mussul- 
mans as  heterodox  and  pernicious.  He  was  said  to 
have  been  buried  by  the  Jericho  gate,  near  the  tombs 
of  the  prophets,  but  neither  the  gate  nor  the  sheikh's 
tomb  exist  at  the  present  day. 

Abu  '1  Faraj  al  Mucaddasi,  Imam  of  the  Hambileh 
sect,  and  the  founder  of  that  of  Imam  Ahmed.  He  is 
the  author  of  very  esteemed  and  voluminous  works 
upon  theology  and  jurisprudence.  He  died  the  9th  of 
January,  1094,  and  was  buried  at  Damascus,  in  the 
cemetery  near  the  Bab  es  Saghir,  where  his  tomb  is 
still  frequented  by  the  faithful. 

Sheikh  Abu  '1  Fath  Nasr,  a  celebrated  recluse  and 
theologian,  fixed  his  residence  at  Jerusalem,  living  the 
life  of  an  ascetic,  in  the  building  to  the  east  of  the 
Bab  en  Rahmah,  which  was  called  after  him  En 
Nasiriyeh.  He  was  a  friend  of  the  eminent  philosopher 
El  Ghazali,  whom  he  met  in  Damascus.  He  died  in 
the  last-named  city  in  the  year  1097  a.d. 

Abu  '1  Ma'ali  el  Masharraf  ibn  el  Marjan  Ibrahim  el 
Mucaddeu.     He  is  the  author  of  a  celebrated  treatise 

3i 


482  JERUSALEM. 


upon  the  history  and  antiquities  of  Jerusalem,  entitled 
Fadhd'il  Bait  el  Mucaddas  w  es  Sakhrah,  '  The  Virtues  of 
Jerusalem  and  of  the  Rock.'  Little  or  nothing  is 
known  of  him  beyond  this  composition  ;  the  date  of 
his  decease  is  also  uncertain,  but  it  is  ascertained  that 
he  was  contemporary  with  Sheikh  Abu  '1  Casim,  who 
was  born  about  1040  a.d. 

This  Sheikh  Abu  '1  Casim  er  Rumaili  was  a  cele- 
brated doctor  of  the  Shafiite  sect.  He  established 
himself  at  Jerusalem,  and  was  so  renowned  for  his 
great  knowledge  of  religious  jurisprudence,  that  difficult 
points  of  law  from  all  quarters  of  the  Muslim  world 
were  sent  to  him  for  his  opinion,  and  his  decision  was 
always  considered  final.  He  is  also  the  author  of  an 
excellent  treatise  on  the  history  of  Jerusalem.  On  the 
capture  of  the  city  by  the  Crusaders,  in  the  year  1099, 
he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  his  ransom  fixed  at  one  thou- 
sand dinars.  The  Muslims  did  not,  however,  appear  to 
set  a  very  high  value  upon  their  learned  doctor,  for  the 
sum  demanded  for  his  release  was  never  raised ;  and 
the  reverend  gentleman  was  stoned  to  death  by  the 
Franks  at  the  gate  of  Antioch.  Some  authorities  say 
that  he  was  put  to  death  in  Jerusalem. 

Abu  '1  Casim  er  Razi  was  by  birth  a  Persian,  and 
studied  jurisprudence  at  Ispahan,  from  which  place  he 
removed  to  Baghdad,  and  ultimately  proceeded  to 
Jerusalem,  where  he  adopted  the  life  of  a  religious 
recluse.  He  was  slain  by  the  Crusaders  on  their  entry 
into  Jerusalem  in  July,  1099. 

The  renowned  philosopher  El  Ghazali  himself  was 
also  a  pilgrim  to  Jerusalem,  in  which  city  he  composed 
the  magnificent  work  for  which  he  is  chiefly  celebrated, 
namely,  the  Muhyi  7  'ulutn,  '  The  Resuscitation  of 
Science.'     He  occupied  the  same  apartments  in  which 


EARLY  PILGRIMS.  483 

Sheikh  Nasir  had  formerly  resided,  and  the  name  was 
changed  in  consequence  from  that  of  En  Nasiriyeh  to 
El  Ghajaliyeh.  The  building,  however,  has  long  since 
disappeared.  El  Ghazali  died  at  Tus,  his  native  town, 
in  the  year  1112. 

Dhia-ed-din  'Eisa  studied  Mohammedan  literature 
and  jurisprudence  in  Aleppo,  and  was  attached  to  the 
court  of  Esed-ed-din  Shirkoh  Saladin's  uncle,  with 
whom  he  visited  Egypt.  On  the  death  of  the  former, 
it  was  principally  owing  to  the  exertions  made  by  him, 
and  Baha-ed-din  Caracosh,  that  Saladin  was  appointed 
to  succeed  him  as  Grand  Vizier  of  Egypt.  In  the  year 
753,  Dhia-ed-din  accompanied  Saladin  upon  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  Franks,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  was  taken  prisoner,  though  subsequently  ransomed 
for  sixty  thousand  dinars.  He  was  a  great  favourite 
with  Saladin,  and,  as  has  been  before  mentioned, 
preached  the  first  sermon  in  the  Masjid  el  Aksa  after 
the  conquest  of  the  Holy  City.  He  was  of  noble  birth 
and  great  learning,  and  while  accompanying  Saladin  in 
his  *  Holy  War  '  he  combined  the  ecclesiastical  with 
the  military  character,  wearing  the  armour  and  uniform 
of -a  soldier,  and  the  turban  of  a  priest.  He  died 
during  the  siege  of  Acre,  in  the  year  583,  and  his 
remains  were  sent  to  Jerusalem,  and  buried  in  the 
cemetery  of  Mamilla. 

Sheikh  Shehab-ed-din  el  Cudsi  was  also  a  Khatib,  or 
preacher,  in  Jerusalem  ;  he  was  present  with  Saladin  at 
the  taking  of  the  city,  and  received  the  sobriquet  of 
Abu  Tor,  'The  Father  of  the  Bull,'  because  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  riding  upon  one  of  those  animals,  and 
fighting  from  its  back.  Saladin  bestowed  upon  him  a 
small  village,  near  the  Jaffa  gate,  in  which  was  the 
monastery  of  St.  Mark,  where  he  lived  and  died.    Both 

31—2 


484  JERUSALEM. 


the  monastery  and  the  hill  upon  which  it  stands  are 
now  called  after  him,  Abu  Tor.  It  is  related  of  him, 
that  when  he  wanted  any  provisions  he  used  to  write  an 
order  and  tie  it  on  the  neck  of  his  favourite  bull,  which 
would  go  straight  to  the  bazaars  and  bring  back  the 
articles  required. 

After  the  death  of  Saladin  the  list  of  eminent  Muslims 
whose  names  are  connected  with  the  history  of  Jerusa- 
lem becomes  too  formidable  in  its  dimensions  to  admit 
of  more  than  a  brief  notice  of  a  few  of  the  most  impor- 
tant.    I  will  commence  with  the  kings  and  princes. 

El  Melik  el  Moa'zzem  was  a  son  of  El  "Adil,  Saladin's 
brother,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  the  government 
of  Syria,  in  August,  1218   a.d.     He   was    a    Hanefite 
(departing  in    this   from    the  traditions  of  his   house, 
which  had  all  along  professed  the  doctrines  of  the  Es 
ShafiV),  and  founded  a  college  for  the  sect  in  the  Masjid 
el  Aksa.     He  was  a  great  patron  of  Arabic  philosophy, 
and   erected   the  building   called    the   '  Dome   of  the 
Grammarians,'  on  the  south  side  of  the  court  of  the 
Sakhrah  ;  to  him  is  also  due  the  construction  of  the 
greater    number  of  carved  wooden  doors  which  adorn 
the   Haram   building,   and  which  still  bear  his    natne 
We  have  already  alluded  in  a  former  chapter  to  the  opera 
tions  of  this  prince,  and  his  brother,  El  Melik  el  Kamil 
against  the  Franks,  as  well  as  to  the  invasion  of  the  Kha 
rezmians,  and  other  troubles  which  overtook  Jerusalem 

After  this  we  hear  no  more  of  victories  or  crusades 
and  the  connection  of  the  succeeding  princes  with  the 
history  of  Jerusalem  is  chiefly  derived  from  their  bene- 
factions to  the  Haram  es  Sherif.  I  will  mention  only  a 
few  of  these,  whose  munificence  is  recorded  on  the 
numerous  tablets  which  adorn  the  buildings  in  the 
sacred  area. 


ROYAL  BENEFACTORS.  485 

El  Melik  ed  Dhaher  Beybers,  Sultan  of  Egypt,  visited 
Jerusalem  in  1269,  on  his  return  from  a  pilgrimage  to 
Mecca.  Passing  by  the  '  Red  Hill,'  between  Jericho 
and  Jerusalem,  which  is,  according  to  the  Muslims,  the 
traditional  site  of  Moses'  grave,  he  erected  the  building 
to  which  devotees  yearly  flock  in  crowds,  to  the  present 
day.  He  repaired  the  Mosque  of  El  Aksa,  and  the 
Cubbet  es  Silsilah,  and  completely  renovated  the 
interior  of  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  which  was  in  a 
very  dilapidated  condition.  He  died  at  Damascus  in 
June,  1277. 

Es  Sultan  Calaun,  originally  a  Memluk,  purchased 
for  one  thousand  dinars,  ascended  the  throne  of  Egypt 
in  1279.  He  repaired  the  roof  of  the  Jami'  el  Aksa, 
and  erected  a  cloister  called  El  Mansuri,  near  the  Bab 
en  Nazir. 

El  Melik  el  "Adil  Ketbegha  began  to  reign  in  694, 
and  repaired  the  eastern  wall  of  the  Haram  by  the 
Golden  Gate.  Es  Sultan  Lajein,  who  succeeded  him, 
also  executed  many  repairs  in  the  mosque.  Sultan 
Mohammed,  son  of  Calaon,  who  had  succeeded  his 
father,  but  been  twice  compelled  to  abdicate,  at  last 
succeeded  in  establishing  himself  on  the  throne  of 
Egypt  in  a.d.  1310.  He  repaired  the  south  wall  of  the 
Haram,  coated  the  inside  of  the  mosque  with  marble, 
and  regilded  the  domes  of  El  Aska  and  the  Cubbet  es 
Sakhrah.  So  beautifully  was  this  gilding  executed,  that 
Mejir-ed-din,  writing  one  hundred  and  eighty  years 
afterwards,  declares  that  it  looked  as  though  it  had 
been  just  laid  on.  Even  now,  in  the  records  of 
Saladin's  restoration  which  exist  upon  the  dome  of  the 
Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  and  over  the  Mihrab  of  the  Aksa, 
the  gold  remains  untarnished. 

Mohammed    ibn    Calaoon    also  repaired  the    arches 


486  JERUSALEM. 

over  the  steps  leading  up  on  the  north  side  to  the 
platform  on  which  the  Dome  of  the  Rock  stands,  and 
executed  many  useful  works  in  and  around  Jerusalem  ; 
he  died  in  a.d.  1340. 

Es  Sultan  el  Melek  el  Ashraf  Shaban,  grandson  of 
the  preceding,  repaired  the  Bal  el  Esbat,  put  new 
wooden  doors  in  the  Jami'  el  Aksa,  and  repaired  the 
arches  over  the  steps  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sakhrah 
platform,  by  the  Bab  en  Nazir.  Sultan  Abu  Sa'id 
Barkuk  was  the  first  of  the  Circassian  dynasty  in 
Egypt  ;  he  ascended  the  throne  in  1382.  To  him  is 
due  a  portion  of  the  woodwork  around  the  Sakhrah. 

In  1393,  his  lieutenant,  El  Yaghmuri,  came  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  set  right  the  numerous  abuses  which  had 
crept  into  the  administration  of  the  city  in  the  time  of 
his  predecessor.  These  reforms  he  proclaimed  by 
causing  an  account  of  them  to  be  engraved  upon  a 
marble  tablet,  and  hung  up  in  the  Haram  es  Sherif. 
The  governors  of  Jerusalem  would  seem  to  have  been 
rather  prone  to  relapses  in  this  respect,  for  we  find  El 
Yaghmuri's  example  followed  by  many  of  the  succeed- 
ing viceroys. 

Sultan  en  Nasir  Farj  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
Egypt  in  the  year  1399,  when  only  twelve  years  old. 
He  separated  the  government  of  Jerusalem  and  Hebron 
from  that  of  Mecca  and  Medina,  which  had  hitherto 
been  exercised  by  one  official.  During  his  reign  oc- 
curred the  incursions  of  the  Tartars,  under  Timour  of 
Tamerlane,. 

Sultan  el  Melik  el  Ashraf  Barseba'/,  a  freedman  of 
Barkuk's,  becoming  sultan  in  1422,  followed  his  former 
master's  example,  and  expended  some  money  upon 
the  repair  of  the  mosque  at  Jerusalem.  He  presented 
a  beautiful  copy  of  the   Coran  to  the   mosque  of  El 


ROYAL  BENEFACTORS.  487 

Aksa,  and  appointed  and  endowed  a  reader  and  atten- 
dant to  look  after  it. 

In  the  year  1447,  during  the  reign  of  El  Melik  ed 
Dhaher  Chakmak,  a  portion  of  the  roof  of  the  Cubbet 
es  Sakhrah  was  destroyed  by  fire.  Some  say  the 
accident  was  caused  by  lightning,  others,  by  the  care- 
lessness of  some  young  nobleman,  who  clambered  on 
the  roof  in  pursuit  of  pigeons,  and  set  fire  to  the 
woodwork  with  a  lighted  candle  which  one  of  them 
held  in  his  hands.  The  sultan  repaired  the  damage, 
and  also  presented  to  the  Sakhrah  a  large  and  mag- 
nificent copy  of  the  Coran.  This  prince  was  a  great 
champion  of  the  faith,  and  sent  his  agent,  Sheikh 
Mohammed  el  Mushmer  to  Jerusalem  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  all  the  newly  erected  Christian  buildings 
in  the  place,  and  of  clearing  out  the  monasteries  and 
convents.  Some  new  wooden  balustrading  which  was 
found  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  carried 
off  in  triumph  to  the  Mosque  of  El  Aksa ;  and  the 
monastery,  or  Tomb  of  David,  was  cleared  of  its 
monkish  occupants  and  appropriated  by  the  Moham- 
medans, while  even  the  bones  in  the  adjoining  cemetery 
were  dug  up  and  removed. 

The  so-called  Tomb  of  David  was  originally  a  con- 
vent of  Franciscan  monks,  who  believed  it  to  be  the 
site  of  the  Ccenaculum,  and  their  traditions  mention 
nothing  of  an  underground  cavern  such  as  is  now  said 
by  the  Mohammedans  to  exist.  The  tradition  which 
makes  it  the  tomb  of  David  is  purely  Muslim  in  its 
origin,  and  does  not  date  back  earlier  than  the  time  of 
El  Melik  ed  Dhaher  Chakmak.  Oral  tradition  in 
Jerusalem  says  that  a  beggar  came  one  day  to  the  door 
of  the  monastery  asking  for  relief,  and  in  revenge  for 
being  refused  went   about    declaring  that   it  was  the 


488  JERUSALEM. 


tomb  of  David,  in  order  to  incite  the  Muslim  fanatics 
to  seize  upon  and  confiscate  the  spot.  His  plan,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  succeeded. 

El  Ashraf  also  gave  a  great  Coran  to  the  Jami'  el 
Aksa,  which  was  placed  near  the  Mosque  of  'Omar,  by 
the  window  which  overlooks  Siloam.  Sultan  el  Ashraf 
Catibai',  in  the  year  1472,  widened  and  improved  the 
steps  leading  up  to  the  platform  of  the  Sakhrah,  and 
furnished  them  with  arches  like  those  on  the  other 
sides.  He  also  re-covered  the  roof  of  El  Aksa  with 
lead.  A  notice  of  the  events  which  happened  in  Jeru- 
salem during  the  reign  of  this  sovereign  will  be  found 
in  the  account  of  Mejid-ed-din  (p.  490). 

The  names  of  a  great  number  of  learned  men  are 
mentioned  in  the  Mohammedan  histories  of  Jerusalem, 
either  as  pilgrims  or  as  preachers,  cadhis  or  principals 
of  colleges.  Of  these  the  majority  would  be  unknown 
to,  or  possess  but  little  interest  for,  the  European 
reader ;  I  will  therefore  content  myself  with  mention- 
ing a  few  who  have  written  upon  or  otherwise  distin- 
guished themselves  in  connection  with  the  Holy  City. 

Sheikh  el  Islam  Burhan-ed-din,  chief  Cadhi  of  Jeru- 
salem, died  in  1388.  The  marble  pulpit  in  the  Cubbet 
es  Sakhrah,  from  which  the  sermon  is  preached  on 
feast-days,  was  the  gift  of  this  divine.  Es  Saiyid 
Bedr-ed-din  Salem,  a  lineal  descendant  of  'AH  ibn  Abi 
Talib,  was  also  connected  for  some  time  with  the 
Haram  at  Jerusalem.  He  was  esteemed  a  great  saint, 
and  was  visited  as  such  by  pious  Muslims  even  during 
his  lifetime.  Many  miracles  are  recorded  of  him,  and 
it  is  said  that  the  birds  and  wild  beasts  came  to  make 
pilgrimages  to  his  tomb  and  those  of  his  sons — at 
Sharafat  in  the  Wady  en  Nusur,  about  three  days' 
journey   from    Jerusalem — and    prostrate    themselves 


MUSLIM  DOCTORS.  489 

with  their  faces  on  the  ground  at  the  door  of  the  small 
building  which  covers  the  graves.  They  are  still 
objects  of  great  veneration  to  Muslim  pilgrims  in 
Palestine.  Es  Sheikh  Abu  '1  Hasan  el  Maghaferi  ex- 
ercised the  office  of  Khatib,  or  preacher,  in  Jerusalem. 
He  studied  the  celebrated  history  of  the  city  by  Ibn 
'Asaker,  under  the  direction  of  its  author,  in  a.d.  1200. 
Shems-ed-din  el  'Alimi  accepted  the  office  of  chief 
Cadhi  of  Jerusalem  in  1438,  towards  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Sultan  Barsebai.  An  incident  is  related  in 
the  notices  of  his  life  which  throws  some  light  upon  the 
condition  of  the  Christians  in  the  city.  A  church  of 
large  dimensions,  and  furnished  with  a  magnificent 
dome,  existed  on  the  south  side  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
in  close  proximity  to  the  Haram  es  Sherif.  This  was 
a  favourite  place  of  worship  with  the  Christian  in- 
habitants, and  the  chaunting  of  the  priests  could  be 
heard  in  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah  itself,  to  the  great 
scandal  of  the  '  Faithful.'  While  they  were  concerting 
measures  for  putting  a  stop  to  the  services  without  in- 
fringing the  law,  an  earthquake  happened,  which  threw 
down  the  dome  of  the  church,  and  completely  dis- 
mantled the  building.  The  Christians  applied  to  the 
governor  of  the  city  and  the  Cadhi  of  the  Hanefite  sect 
for  permission  to  restore  the  building,  and,  by  dint  of 
heavy  bribes,  obtained  it.  El  'Alimi,  who  was  Cadhi 
of  the  Hambelite  sect,  was  furious  at  this,  and  declared 
that  as  the  church  had  been  destroyed  by  the  act  of 
God  for  the  express  convenience  of  the  Muslim  wor- 
shippers in  the  Cubbet  es  Sakhrah,  it  was  sheer  blas- 
phemy to  allow  it  to  be  rebuilt.  An  indignant  letter 
written  by  him  to  Cairo  brought  a  special  commissioner 
with  orders  from  the  Sultan  el  Ashraf  Einal  to  stop  the 
building  and  pull  down  what  had  been  already  erected. 


4QO  JERUSALEM. 

This  was  probably  the  commencement  of  the  general 
Crescentade  against  the  churches  and  monasteries  of 
Jerusalem,  which  took  place  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
El  'Alimi,  in  the  reign  of  Sultan  Chakmak,  to  which  I 
have  already  alluded  in  my  notice  of  that  prince.  The 
Cadhi  was  also  in  the  habit  of  seizing  upon  the  children 
of  deceased  Jews  and  Christians,  who  were  tributaries 
of  the  State,  and  of  compelling  them  to  be  trained  up  in 
the  Mohammedan  religion.  The  Shafiite  Cadhi  disputed 
the  legality  of  this,  and  the  question  was  warmly  discussed 
by  the  Mohammedan  doctors,  both  in  Jerusalem  and 
Cairo.  Although  the  decision  was  not  favourable  to  his 
view  of  the  case,  he  continued  to  follow  the  same  course 
until  he  was  removed  from  the  office  in  1468.  Amongst 
the  Mohammedan  viceroys  and  governors  of  Jerusalem 
may  be  mentioned  the  following  :  El  Emir  'Ezz-ed-dm 
es  Zanjeili,  who  repaired  the  Cubbet  el  Miraj  in  the 
year  1200.  El  Emir  Hisam-ed-din,  who  restored  the 
Cubbet  en  Nahwiweh  in  1207.  El  Emir  Zidugdi  was 
governor  of  Jerusalem  during  the  reigns  of  the  Sultans 
Beibars  and  Cala'on.  He  built  a  cloister  by  the  Bab  en 
Nazir  and  paved  the  court  of  the  Sakhrah.  El  Emir 
Nasir-ed-din  made  extensive  restorations  in  the  Haram 
Area,  and  opened  the  two  windows  in  the  Aksa  which 
are  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  Mihrab,  and  coated  the 
interior  of  the  mosque  with  marble  in  1330.  The  well- 
known  author,  Mejir-ed-din,  resided  for  some  time  in 
Jerusalem,  and  has  given  us  the  best  history  of  the  Holy 
City  extant  in  Arabic.  The  following  is  a  brief  extract 
of  his  own  very  graphic  account  of  the  events  which 
happened  there  during  the  reign  of  the  Sultan  El  Ashraf 
Catibai',  in  whose  service  the  writer  was.  As  a  picture 
of  the  state  of  things  in  Jerusalem  in  the  fifteenth 
century  it  may  not  prove  uninteresting  to  our  readers. 


CIVIL  DISTURBANCES.  491 

In  the  year  1468  a  severe  famine  occurred  in 
Jerusalem  and  its  neighbourhood  in  consequence  of 
the  unusual  drought  of  the  preceding  winter.  The 
people  began  to  exhibit  signs  of  dissatisfaction,  and 
matters  were  not  improved  by  a  quarrel  which  took 
place  between  the  Nazir  el  Haramain,  or  Superintendent 
of  the  Two  Sanctuaries  (Hebron  and  Jerusalem),  and 
the  Nai'b,  or  viceroy.  These  two  officials  came  to  an 
open  rupture,  and  as  the  Nazir  and  his  men  were 
engaged  in  laying  in  water  from  the  Birket  es  Sultan 
to  some  buildings  upon  which  they  were  employed,  the 
Naib,  with  a  company  of  attendants,  came  suddenly 
upon  them,  and  a  fierce  fight  took  place.  The  city  was 
immediately  divided  into  two  factions,  some  taking  the 
part  of  the  Nazir,  and  others  of  the  Naib,  and  even  the 
presence  of  a  special  commissioner  from  Cairo  failed 
to  quell  the  disturbance.  The  plague,  with  which 
Syria  had  been  for  some  time  visited,  next  attacked 
Jerusalem,  and  raged  from  the  17th  of  July,  1469,  until 
the  middle  of  September. 

The  next  year  (1470)  was  more  propitious,  but  the 
great  people  of  the  city  still  seemed  unable  to  agree. 
On  the  12th  of  February,  Cadhi  Sherif-ed-din  came  to 
Jerusalem,  and  was  visited,  immediately  on  his  arrival, 
by  Ghars-ed-din,  chief  Cadhi  of  the  Shafiite  sect.  Now 
Sheikh  Shehab-ed-din  el  'Amiri,  principal  of  one  of  the 
colleges  attached  to  the  Haram,  also  happened  to  drop 
in,  and,  either  through  ignorance  or  inadvertence,  took 
a  seat  in  the  assembly  above  the  Cadhi.  The  two 
reverend  gentlemen  entered  into  a  warm  dispute,  in 
the  course  of  which  the  Sheikh  threatened  to  tear  the 
Cadhi's  turban  off  his  head.  The  Cadhi  retorted  that 
the  Sheikh  '  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  a  turban,' 
implying  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  conduct  himself 


492  JERUSALEM. 


as  became  his  office.  Both  parties  then  left  the 
assembly,  and,  the  matter  being  referred  to  arbitration, 
certain  learned  gentlemen  adjourned  to  the  Cubbet  es 
Sakhrah  to  discuss  it,  accompanied  by  a  crowd  of 
idlers.  The  people  of  Jerusalem,  determined  to  defend 
their  fellow-citizen,  attempted  to  decide  the  question 
by  pillaging  the  Cadhi's  house,  and  maltreating  his 
wives.  The  day  was  a  very  rainy  one,  which  circum- 
stance increased  the  bad  temper  of  the  mob,  and  it  was 
at  one  time  more  than  probable  that  the  sanctuary 
would  become  the  scene  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed.  In  a 
subsequent  appeal,  made  to  the  sultan  himself  at  Cairo, 
the  Cadhi  got  scant  satisfaction,  and  was  so  laughed  at 
and  ridiculed  on  his  return  to  Jerusalem  that  he  was 
ultimately  obliged  to  resign  his  office,  and  leave.  The 
atmosphere  of  Jerusalem  appears  to  have  a  particularly 
unfortunate  effect  upon  the  temper  of  theologians. 

The  winter  of  1472-73  was  exceedingly. severe,  and  the 
rains  so  incessant  that  the  foundations  of  the  buildings 
were,  in  many  instances,  undermined ;  three  hundred 
and  sixty  houses  are  said  to  have  fallen  down  from  this 
cause,  but  one  woman,  who  was  buried  in  the  ruins  of 
her  dwelling,  was  the  only  person  killed. 

About  the  end  of  the  year  1475  the  sultan  him- 
self, El  Ashraf  Catiba't,  performed  the  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem  on  his  return  from  Mecca.  Immediately 
upon  his  arrival  in  the  city  he  held  a  court,  on  which 
occasion  the  inhabitants  crowded  round  him  to  present 
petitions  against  the  viceroy,  whom  they  accused  of  all 
manner  of  injustice  and  oppression.  The  chief  Cadhi 
was  also  included  in  the  indictment,  as  having  given 
corrupt  decisions  in  the  interests  of  the  governor.  The 
latter  purchased  immunity  by  paying  off  upon  the  spot 
ail  claims  that  were  made  against  him,  and  was  retained 


A  TTA  CK  BY  BE  DA  WIN.  9  3 

in  his  office  by  the  sultan,  who,  however,  intimated 
that  if  a  single  complaint  were  again  made,  he  would 
have  him  cut  in  halves.  The  Cadhi  narrowly  escaped 
corporal  punishment,  and  was  dismissed  ignominiously 
from  his  office,  and  compelled  to  leave  the  city. 

In  May,  1476,  orders  came  from  the  sultan  to  arrest 
all  the  Christians  connected  with  the  Churches  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  Sion  and  Bethlehem,  in  revenge 
for  the  capture  of  four  Muslims  by  the  Franks  at 
Alexandria.  The  orders  were  executed,  but  we  are 
not  told  what  became  of  the  prisoners.  Towards  the 
end  of  1477  the  plague,  which  had  been  raging  for  some 
time  in  Syria,  reached  Jerusalem,  and  lasted  for  more 
than  six  months,  causing  a  terrible  mortality. 

In  1480  a  great  disturbance  took  place  in  Jerusalem 
in  consequence  of  the  governor  having  imprisoned  and 
put  to  death  some  Bedawin  of  the  Beni  Zeid  tribe. 
A  crowd  of  ferocious  Arabs  bore  down  upon  Jerusalem, 
determined  to  revenge  the  death  of  their  comrades, 
and  the  governor,  who  was  riding  outside  the  city  at 
the  time  of  their  arrival,  narrowly  escaped  falling  into 
their  hands.  Setting  spurs  to  his  horse,  he  dashed 
through  the  Bab  el  Esbat,  rode  across  the  courtyard 
of  the  mosque,  and  escaped  through  the  Bab  el 
Magharibeh.  The  Bedawin  swarmed  in  after  him  with 
drawn  swords,  utterly  regardless  of  the  sacred  character 
of  the  place.  Finding  that  their  victim  had  escaped, 
they  followed  the  method  adopted  on  similar  occasions 
by  European  agitators,  broke  into  the  houses  and  shops 
of  the  neighbourhood,  and  plundered  all  that  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on,  and  then  broke  open  the  jail,  and 
let  loose  the  prisoners. 

In  1481  a  number  of  architects  and  workmen  were 
sent  to  Jerusalem  by  the  sultan  to  repair  the  Haram, 


494  JERUSALEM. 


and  to  rebuild  the  various  colleges  which  had  fallen 
into  decay.  In  1482  a  messenger  arrived,  bearing  the 
sultan's  order  that  the  Christians  were  to  be  permitted 
to  take  possession  once  more  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  and  exhibit  therein  the  customary 
Easter  pyrotechnic  display.  The  order  was  at  first 
disputed  by  the  Muslim  officials,  but  as  the  com- 
missioner threatened  to  indict  them  for  contempt  of 
authority,  they  were  obliged  to  give  way. 

In  1491,  Jerusalem  was  again  visited  by  the  plague  ; 
at  first  from  thirty  to  forty  people  died  of  it  daily,  but 
in  a  little  time  the  average  rate  of  mortality  was  in- 
creased to  a  hundred  and  thirty. 

The  winter  of  this  year  was  very  severe,  and  a  snow- 
storm occurred,  which  lasted  several  days,  and  lay 
upon  the  ground  to  the  depth  of  three  feet,  greatly  in- 
commoding and  frightening  the  inhabitants.  When  it 
began  to  melt,  the  foundations  of  many  of  the  houses 
gave  way,  and  serious  disasters  were  the  result. 

Mejir-ed-din:s  history  of  this  period  is  very  diffuse, 
and  is  chiefly  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  various 
Cadhis,  and  other  religious  or  legal  functionaries  in 
Jerusalem.  But  the  ascendency  of  the  Shafiite  or 
Hanefite  doctrines,  or  the  intense  devotion  of  an  old 
gentleman  who  had  learned  a  whole  commentary  upon 
the  Coran  by  heart,  are  not  subjects  of  much  general 
interest ;  we  have,  therefore,  confined  ourselves  to 
stating  the  few  facts  above  detailed. 

We  ought,  perhaps,  to  include  in  our  list  of  Mo- 
hammedan pilgrims  those  from  whom  all  our  informa- 
tion is  gleaned — Ibn  'Asaker,  and  the  later  Arabic 
writers  who  have  written  on  the  subject ;  their  names, 
however,  and  the  names  of  their  books,  although  of 
high  authority  to  the  Oriental  scholar,  could  have  but 
little  weight  with  the  English  reader. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    CHRONICLE    OF    SIX    HUNDRED    YEARS. 

'  Oh  !  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 
Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill, 
To  pangs  of  nature,  sins  of  will, 
Defects  of  doubt,  and  taint  of  blood.' 

In  Memoria?n. 

The  Christian  kingdom,  reduced  after  Saladin's  con- 
quest to  a  strip  of  land  along  the  coast,  with  a  few 
strong  cities,  depended  no  longer  on  the  annual 
reinforcement  of  pilgrims,  but  on  the  strength  and 
wealth  of  the  two  military  orders.  Unfortunately 
these  quarrelled,  and  the  whole  of  Syria  became 
divided,  Mohammedans  as  well  as  Christians,  into 
partisans  of  Knights  Templars,  or  of  Knights  Hos- 
pitallers. Henry  of  Champagne,  the  titular  king,  was 
only  anxious  to  get  away,  while  Bohemond,  the  Prince 
of  Antioch,  was  only  anxious  to  extend  his  own 
territories.  In  Germany  alone  the  crusading  spirit  yet 
lingered,  and  a  few  Germans  flocked  yearly  to  the 
sacred  places.  Germany  did  more.  The  emperor, 
with  forty  thousand  men,  went  to  Palestine  by  way  of 
Italy.  When  he  arrived,  he  found,  to  his  amazement, 
that  the  Christians  did  not  want  him — the  truce  con- 
cluded with  the  Mohammedans  being  not  yet  broken. 
The  barons  and  princes  had  resolved  not  to  break  it  at 
all ;  but  rather  to  seek  its  renewal.     But  the  Germans 


496  JERUSALEM. 

had  not  accomplished  their  long  journey  for  nothing. 
They  issued  from  their  camp  at  Acre  in  arms,  and 
broke  the  truce  by  wantonly  attacking  the  Saracens. 
Reprisals  at  once  followed,  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Jaffa  was  attacked.  Henry  of  Champagne  hastened  to 
its  defence.  There  he  fell  from  a  high  window,  and 
was  killed.  The  arrival  of  more  Crusaders  enabled  the 
Christians  to  meet  El  Melik  el  "Adil  in  open  field,  and 
to  gain  a  complete  victory.  They  followed  it  up  by 
taking  the  seaboard  towns,  and  the  whole  coast  of 
Syria  was  once  more  in  the  hands  of  the  Christians. 
Of  Jerusalem  no  one  thought  except  the  common 
soldiers,  with  whom  the  capture  of  the  city  remained 
still  a  dream.  Isabelle,  the  widow  of  Henry,  was 
married  a  fourth  time,  to  Amaury  de  Lusignan,  who 
had  succeeded  his  brother  Guy  on  the  throne  of 
Cyprus,  and  now  became  the  titular  king  of  Jerusalem, 
a  shadowy  title,  which  was  destined  never  to  become  a 
real  one,  except  for  a  very  brief  interval. 

When  the  Germans  went  away,  the  Christians  of 
Palestine  were  once  more  at  the  mercy  of  the  Saracens, 
with  whom  they  had  broken  the  treaty.  The  Bishop 
of  Acre  was  sent  to  supplicate  help  from  Europe.  He 
was  shipwrecked  and  drowned  almost  immediately 
after  leaving  port.  Other  messengers  were  sent. 
These  also  were  drowned  in  a  tempest.  So  for  a  long 
time  news  of  the  sad  condition  of  the  Christians  did  not 
reach  Europe.  But,  indeed,  it  was  difficult  to  raise  the 
crusading  spirit  again  in  the  West.  Like  a  flame  of 
dry  straw  it  had  burned  fiercely  for  a  short  time,  and 
then  expired.  Jerusalem  was  fading  from  the  minds  of 
the  people.  It  was  become  a  city  of  memories,  round 
which  the  glories  of  those  myths  which  gathered  about 
the  name  of  Godfrey  and  Tancred  were  already  present. 


FAMINE  IN  EGYPT.  497 

Innocent  III.,  a  young  and  ardent  pope,  wrote  letter 
upon  letter.  These  produced  little  effect.  He  sent 
preachers  to  promise  men  remission  of  sins  in  return  for 
taking  the  Cross.  But  it  was  a  time  when  men  were  not 
thinking  much  about  their  sins.  Priests  imposed  the 
penance  of  pilgrimage  to  Palestine ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  many  pilgrims  went ;  and  boxes  were  placed 
in  all  the  churches  to  collect  money;  but  it  is  not 
certain  that  much  money  was  put  into  them.  Then 
Fulke  de  Neuilly,  the  most  eloquent  priest  of  the  time, 
was  sent  to  preach  a  crusade,  and  succeeded  in  fanning 
the  embers  of  the  crusading  enthusiasm  once  more  into 
an  evanescent  and  short-lived  flame.  How  little  of 
religious  zeal  there  was  in  the  movement  may  be 
judged  by  the  sequel,  and  we  cannot  here  delay  to 
detail  the  progress  of  the  Crusade  which  ended  in  the 
conquest  of  Constantinople.  No  history  can  be  found 
more  picturesque,  more  full  of  incident,  and  more 
illustrative  of  the  manners  and  thoughts  of  the  time ; 
but  it  does  not  concern  Jerusalem.  An  old  empire  fell, 
and  a  new  one  was  founded,  but  Christendom  was  out- 
raged by  the  spectacle  of  an  expedition  which  started 
full  of  zeal  for  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  was 
diverted  from  its  original  purposes  to  serve  the  ambition 
of  its  leaders,  and  the  avarice  of  a  commercial  city. 

Egypt  and  Syria,  meantime,  were  kept  quiet  from 
war  by  troubles  not  caused  by  man.  The  annual 
rise  of  the  Nile  ceased  for  a  time  wholly,  or  in  part, 
and  a  fearful  famine,  a  famine  of  which  the  records 
speak  as  dreadful  beyond  all  comparison,  set  in ; 
during  this  time  men  kept  themselves  alive  by  eating 
the  flesh  of  those  who  died,  while  the  cities  were 
filled  with  corpses,  and  the  river  bore  down  on  its 
tide  dead  bodies  as  numerous  as  the  lilies  which  bloom 

32 


498  JERUSALEM. 


on  its  surface  in  spring.  And  before  the  famine,  which 
extended  over  Syria  as  well,  had  ceased,  an  earthquake 
shook  the  country  from  end  to  end.  Damascus,  Tyre, 
Nablous,  were  heaps  of  ruins  ;  the  walls  of  Acre  and 
Tripoli  fell  down  ;  Jerusalem  alone  seemed  spared,  and 
there  the  Christian  and  the  Mohammedan  met  together, 
still  trembling  with  fear,  to  thank  God  for  their  safety. 
The  sums  of  money  which  Fulke  de  Neuilly  had  raised 
in  his  preaching  were  spent  in  repairing  the  walls  which 
had  fallen,  and  the  knight  sent  messengers  in  all  direc- 
tions to  implore  the  assistance  of  the  West.  Amaury, 
a  wise  and  prudent  chief,  died,  leaving  an  infant  son, 
who  also  died  a  few  days  after  him,  and  Isabelle  was 
a  widow  for  the  fourth  time.  Pope  Innocent  III. 
could  find  none  to  go  to  the  Holy  Land  but  those 
whom  he  ordered  to  go  by  way  of  penance.  Thus,  the 
murderers  of  Conrad,  Bishop  of  Wurtzburg,  were  en- 
joined to  bear  arms  for  four  years  against  the  Saracens. 
They  were  to  wear  no  garments  of  bright  colours ; 
never  to  assist  at  public  sports  ;  not  to  marry  ;  to  march 
barefooted,  and  dressed  in  woollen ;  to  fast  on  bread 
and  water  two  days  a  week,  and  whenever  they  came 
to  a  city  to  go  to  the  church,  with  bare  backs,  a  rope 
round  the  neck,  and  rods  in  the  hand,  there  to  receive 
flagellation.  But  their  penance  was  not  so  cruel  as  that 
inflicted  on  the  luckless  Frotmond,  already  described. 
Another  criminal,  one  Robert,  a  knight,  went  to  the 
pope  and  confessed  that  while  a  captive  in  Egypt, 
during  the  dreadful  famine,  he  had  killed  his  wife  and 
child,  and  kept  himself  alive  by  eating  their  flesh.  The 
pope  ordered  him  to  pass  three  years  in  the  Holy  Land. 
The  crown  of  Jerusalem  devolved,  by  the  death  of 
Amaury  de  Lusignan,  on  the  daughter  of  Isabelle,  by 
her  husband,  Conrad  of  Tyre.     The  barons,  looking  for 


THE  CHILDREN'S  CRUSADE.  499 

a  fit  husband  to  share  the  throne  with  her,  that  is,  to 
become  their  leader  in  war,  selected  John  de  Brienne. 
He  was  recommended  by  the  King  of  France,  '  as  a 
man  good  in  arms,  safe  in  war,  and  provident  in  busi- 
ness.' And  hopes  were  held  out  that  another  crusade 
would  be  sent  from  France.  On  the  strength  of  this 
expectation,  the  Templars,  in  spite  of  contrary  advice 
from  the  Hospitallers,  broke  the  truce  which  yet  existed 
with  the  Mohammedans,  and  open  war  began  again. 
King  John  de  Brienne  came  with  an  army  of  three 
hundred  knights,  and  no  more  ;  fortresses  and  towns 
were  taken  ;  the  Christians  began  to  drop  off,  and 
desert  the  falling  country ;  and  the  new  king  soon 
found  himself  with  no  place  that  he  could  call  his  own, 
except  the  city  of  Acre.  He  sent  to  the  pope  for  as- 
sistance. The  pope  could  not  help  him,  because  there 
was  a  new  and  much  easier  crusade  on  the  point  of 
commencing,  that  against  the  Albigeois.  And  then 
happened  that  most  wonderful  episode  in  all  this 
tangled  story,  the  Crusade  of  the  Children,  '  expeditio 
nugatoria,  expeditio  derisoria.' 

It  had  long  been  the  deliberate  opinion  of  many  ec- 
clesiastics that  the  misfortunes  of  the  Christian  king- 
dom, and  the  failure  of  so  many  Crusades,  were  due  to 
the  impure  lives  of  the  Christian  soldiers.  Since  the 
First  Crusade  it  had  been  the  constant  and  laudable 
aim  of  the  Church  to  maintain  among  the  croiscs  a  feel- 
ing that  personal  purity  was  the  first  requisite  in  an 
expedition  inspired  solely  by  religious  zeal.  All  their 
efforts  were  vain  ;  laws  were  made,  which  were  broken 
at  once.  Shameful  punishments  were  threatened,  of 
which  no  one  took  any  notice.  Even  the  camp  of 
Saint  Louis  himself  was  filled  with  every  kind  of  im- 
morality ;    while  that  of   Richard's   Crusade,   spite   of 

32—2 


■joo  JERUSALEM. 


the  strictest  laws,  became  the  scene  of  profligacy  the 
most  unbridled.  For  every  one  Crusader,  in  the  latter 
expeditions,  who  was  moved  by  a  spirit  of  piety,  there 
might  be  found  ninety-nine  who  took  the  Cross  for  love 
of  fighting,  for  the  sake  of  their  seigneurs,  for  sheer 
desire  of  change,  for  a  release  from  serfdom,  forgetting 
away  from  the  burden  of  wife  and  family,  for  the 
chance  of  plunder  and  license,  and  for  every  other  un- 
worthy excuse.  Thus  it  was  that  the  religious  wars 
fostered  and  promoted  vice ;  and  the  failure  of  army 
after  army  was  looked  on  as  a  clear  manifestation  of 
God's  wrath  against  the  sins  of  the  camp. 

This  feeling  was  roused  to  its  highest  pitch  when,  in 
the  year  1212,  certain  priests — Nicolas  was  the  name  of 
one  of  these  mischievous  madmen — went  about  France 
and  Germany  calling  on  the  children  to  perform  what  the 
fathers,  through  their  wickedness,  had  been  unable  to 
effect,  promising  that  the  sea  should  be  dry  to  enable 
them  to  march  across  ;  that  the  Saracens  would  be 
miraculously  stricken  with  a  panic  at  sight  of  them  ; 
that  God  would,  through  the  hands  of  children  only, 
whose  lives  were  yet  pure,  work  the  recovery  of  the 
Cross  and  the  Sepulchre.  Thousands — it  is  said  fifty 
thousand — children  of  both  sexes  responded  to  the  call. 
They  listened  to  the  impassioned  preaching  of  the 
monks,  believed  their  lying  miracles,  their  visions,  their 
portents,  their  references  to  the  Scriptures,  and,  in 
spite  of  all  that  their  parents  could  do,  rushed  to  take 
the  Cross,  boys  and  girls  together,  and  streamed  along 
the  roads  which  led  to  Marseilles  and  Genoa,  singing 
hymns,  waving  branches,  replying  to  those  who  asked 
whither  they  were  going,  '  We  go  to  Jerusalem  to 
deliver  the  Holy  Sepulchre,'  and  shouted  their  rallying 
cry,  '  Lord  Jesus,  give  us  back  the  Holy  Cross.'     They 


THE  CHILDREN'S  CRUSADE.  501 

admitted  whoever  came,  provided  he  took  the  Cross  ; 
the  infection  spread,  and  the  children  could  not  be  re- 
strained from  joining  them  in  the  towns  and  villages 
along  their  route.  Their  miserable  parents  put  them 
in  prison — they  escaped  ;  they  forbade  them  to  go — the 
children  went  in  spite  of  prohibition.  They  had  no 
money,  no  provisions,  no  leaders  ;  but  the  charity  of 
the  towns  they  passed  through  supported  them.  At 
their  rear  streamed  the  usual  tail  of  camp  followers,  those 
people  who  lived  wherever  soldiers  were  found,  follow- 
ing in  the  track  of  the  army  like  vultures,  to  prey  on 
the  living,  and  to  rob  the  dead.  Of  these  there  came 
many,  ribands  et  ribaudes,  corrupting  both  boys  and 
girls,  and  robbing  them  of  their  little  means  ;  so  that 
long  before  the  army  reached  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean the  purity  of  many  was  gone  for  ever. 

There  were  two  main  bodies.  One  of  these  directed 
its  way  through  Germany,  across  the  Alps,  to  Genoa. 
On  the  road  they  were  robbed  of  all  the  gifts  which 
had  been  presented  to  them  ;  they  were  exposed  to 
heat  and  want,  and  very  many  either  died  on  the 
march  or  wandered  away  from  the  road,  and  so  became 
lost  to  sight ;  when  they  reached  Italy  they  dispersed 
about  the  country  seeking  food,  were  stripped  by  the 
villagers,  and  in  some  cases  reduced  to  slavery.  Only 
seven  thousand  out  of  their  number  arrived  at  Genoa. 
Here  they  stayed  for  some  days.  They  looked  down 
upon  the  Mediterranean,  hoping  that  its  bright  waters 
would  divide  to  let  them  pass.  But  they  did  not ;  there 
was  no  miracle  wrought  in  their  favour;  a  few,  of  noble 
birth,  were  received  among  the  Genoese  families,  and 
have  given  rise  to  distinguished  houses  of  Genoa ; 
among  them  is  the  house  of  Vivaldi.  The  rest,  disap- 
pointed and  disheartened,  made  their  way  back  again, 


5o2  JERUSALEM. 


and  got  home  at  length,  the  girls  with  the  loss  of 
their  virtue,  the  boys  with  the  loss  of  their  belief,  all 
barefooted  and  in  rags,  laughed  at  by  the  towns  they 
went  through,  and  wondering  why  they  had  ever  gone 
at  all. 

This  was  the  end  of  the  German  army.  That  of  the 
French  children  was  not  so  fortunate,  for  none  of  them 
ever  got  home  again  at  all.  When  they  arrived  at 
Marseilles,  thinned  probably  by  the  same  causes  as  those 
which  had  dispersed  the  Germans,  they  found,  like  their 
brethren,  that  the  sea  did  not  open  a  path  for  them,  as 
had  been  promised.  Perhaps  some  were  disheartened 
and  went  home  again.  But  fortune  appeared  to  favour 
them.  There  were  two  worthy  merchants  at  Marseilles, 
named  Hugh  Ferreus  and  William  Porcus,  Iron  Hugh 
and  Pig  William,  who  traded  with  the  East,  and  had  in 
port  seven  ships,  in  which  they  proposed  to  convey  the 
children  to  Palestine.  With  a  noble  generosity  they 
offered  to  take  them  for  nothing ;  all  for  love  of  religion, 
and  out  of  the  pure  kindness  of  their  hearts.  Of 
course  this  offer  was  accepted  with  joy,^  and  the 
seven  vessels,  laden  with  the  happy  little  Crusaders, 
singing  their  hymns,  and  flying  their  banners,  sailed 
out  from  Marseilles  bound  for  the  East,  accompanied 
by  William  the  Good  and  Hugh  the  Pious.  It  was  not 
known  to  the  children,  of  course,  that  the  chief  trade  of 
these  merchants  was  the  lucrative  business  of  kidnap- 
ping Christian  children  for  the  Alexandrian  market.  It 
was  so,  however,  and  these  respectable  tradesmen  had 
never  before  made  so  splendid  a  coup.  Unfortunately, 
off  the  Island  of  St.  Peter  they  encountered  bad 
weather,  and  two  ships  went  down,  with  all  on  board. 
What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  the  philanthro- 
pists, Pig  William  and  Iron  Hugh,  at  this  misfortune  ? 


THE  CHILDREN'S  CRUSADE.  503 

They  got,  however,  five  ships  safely  to  Alexandria,  and 
sold  all  their  cargo,  the  Sultan  of  Cairo  buying  forty  of 
the  boys,  whom  he  brought  up  carefully  and  apart, 
intending  them,  doubtless,  for  his  best  soldiers.  A 
dozen,  refusing  to  change  their  faith,  were  martyred. 
None  of  the  rest  ever  came  back.  Nobody  in  Europe 
seems  to  have  taken  much  notice  of  this  extraordinary 
episode,  and  its  memory  has  so  entirely  died  out  that 
hardly  a  mention  of  it  is  found  in  any  modern  history 
of  the  period.  Thousands  of  children  perished. 
Probably  their  mothers  wept,  but  no  one  else  seems  to 
have  cared.  And  the  pope  built  a  church  on  the  Island 
of  Saint  Peter,  to  commemorate  the  drowning  of  the 
innocents,  with  the  cold  remark  that  the  children  were 
doing  what  the  men  refused  to  do.  It  is,  however, 
pleasing  to  add  that  the  two  honest  merchants  were 
accused  some  years  afterwards  of  conspiring  to 
assassinate  the  Emperor  Frederick,  and  so  perished  on 
the  gallows-tree. 

In  1213,  after  the  Children's  Crusade,  Innocent 
essayed  once  more  to  wake  the  enthusiasm  of  Christen- 
dom. He  promised,  as  before,  remission  of  sins  to 
those  who  took  the  Cross ;  he  wrote  to  the  Sultans  of 
Damascus  and  Cairo,  informing  them  that  the  Crusaders 
were  coming,  and  urged  on  them  the  advisability  of 
giving  up  Jerusalem  peaceably  :  and  he  informed  the 
world  that  Islam  was  the  Beast  of  the  Apocalypse, 
whose  duration  was  to  be  six  hundred  and  sixty  years,  of 
which  six  hundred  were  already  passed.  Some,  no 
doubt,  of  his  hearers  thought  that,  such  being  the  case, 
they  might  very  well  be  quiet  for  sixty  years  more.  At 
the  same  time  he  wrote  to  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem 
with  strict  injunctions  to  effect,  if  possible,  a  reform  in 
the  morals  of  the  Syrian  Christians,  as  if  that  were  a 


504  JERUSALEM. 


hopeful,  or  even  a  possible  task ;  and,  as  before,  preach- 
ing was  ordered  through  every  diocese,  and  collecting- 
boxes  for  every  church.  In  England  the  preaching  was 
a  total  failure.  John  saw  a  means  of  reconciling  him- 
self with  the  Church,  and  took  the  Cross.  But  the 
barons,  in  their  turn  excommunicated,  held  aloof,  and 
occupied  themselves  with  their  home  affairs.  Philip 
Augustus  of  France,  after  giving  the  fortieth  part  of 
his  wealth  to  the  expenses  of  the  Crusade,  quarrelled 
with  the  Cardinal  de  Courcon  over  the  powers  which 
he  assumed  to  possess  as  the  legate  of  the  pope.  In 
Germany,  Frederick  II.,  recently  crowned  King  of  the 
Romans,  took  the  Cross  in  the  hope  of  preserving  the 
support  of  the  Church,  Otho,  his  rival,  being  at  war 
with  the  pope.  Then  came  the  Council  of  Lateran,  at 
which  Innocent  presided.  He  spoke  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  Holy  Land.  His  address  was  received  without  any 
marks  of  enthusiasm.  Nevertheless  a  Crusade  was 
actually  undertaken,  partly  against  the  Prussians,  partly 
to  Palestine.  The  latter  was  led  by  Andrew,  King  of 
Hungary.  It  was  conveyed  in  Venetian  ships  from 
Spalatro  and  the  towns  of  the  Adriatic  first  to  Cyprus, 
where  they  were  joined  by  the  deputies  of  the  king  and 
patriarch,  and  the  military  orders.  Thence  they  sailed 
to  Acre,  where  they  landed  in  12 17.  Like  all  the 
crusading  armies,  this  was  too  big  to  be  manageable, 
too  diverse  in  its  composition  to  be  subject  to  discipline, 
too  unruly  to  be  led,  and  under  too  many  leaders. 
They  marched  straight  across  Palestine,  avoiding 
Jerusalem  and  the  south.  They  bathed  in  the  Jordan, 
and  wandered  along  the  banks  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
singing  hymns,  making  prisoners,  and  plundering  the 
towns,  the  Saracens  not  striking  a  blow.  Their  only 
military  exploit  was  an  attempt  on  Mount  Tabor,  on 


'ANDREW'S  CRUSADE.  505 

the  top  of  which  stood  a  fortress.  There,  too,  were 
the  ruins  of  a  church  and  the  monasteries  which  the 
Mohammedans  had  destroyed.  The  Crusaders  climbed 
the  hill  in  the  face  of  the  enemy's  arrows  and  stones, 
and  would  have  carried  the  fortress  easily  by  assault 
but  for  one  of  those  panics  which  were  always  seizing 
the  Christians  at  this  period.  They  all  turned  and  fled 
down  the  slope  of  the  hill  in  the  wildest  confusion. 
On  their  return  to  camp  the  chiefs  accused  each 
other :  the  soldiers  talked  of  treachery,  and  the 
patriarch  refused  any  more  to  bring  out  the  wood  of 
the  Cross — for  this  imposture  had  been  started  again. 
To  revive  the  spirits  of  the  army,  Andrew  ordered 
a  march  into  Phoenicia.  The  time  was  winter  :  cold, 
hail,  and  rain  killed  the  troops  :  on  Christmas  Eve  a 
furious  tempest  destroyed  their  camp  and  killed  their 
horses.  Dejected  and  discouraged,  the  Christians 
returned  to  Acre.  Famine  began  again,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  separate  into  four  camps.  John  de  Brienne, 
King  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  Duke  of  Austria,  com- 
manded the  first,  which  lay  in  the  plains  of  Csesarea  : 
the  Kings  of  Hungary  and  Cyprus  the  second,  which 
was  stationed  at  Tripoli :  the  Master  of  the  Templars 
the  third,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Carmel :  the  fourth 
remained  at  Acre.  The  King  of  Cyprus  died,  and  the 
King  of  Hungary  went  home  again.  He  had  got 
possession  of  the  head  of  St.  Peter,  the  right  hand  of 
St.  Thomas,  and  one  of  the  seven  vessels  in  which  the 
water  had  been  turned  into  wine.  His  anxiety  to  put 
these  treasures  in  a  place  of  safety  was  the  chief  cause 
that  led  him  to  forsake  the  Crusade. 

After  his  departure  the  Crusaders  changed  all  their 
plans,  and — it  is  very  curious  to  observe  how  per- 
sistently they  avoided  Jerusalem,  the  pretended  object 


5o6  JERUSALEM. 


of  their  aims  —  embarked  at  Acre  for  the  siege  of 
Damietta,  which  they  took  after  nearly  two  years  of 
fighting.  This  taken,  they  advanced  on  Cairo :  on 
the  way,  for  we  have  no  space  to  follow  all  their 
misfortunes,  the  Nile  overflowed,  they  were  cut  off 
from  all  hope  of  succour,  assailed  on  every  side  by  the 
enemy,  and  finally  compelled  to  offer  terms.  During 
the  negotiations  they  found  themselves  deprived  of 
everything,  encamped  on  a  plain  inundated  by  the 
waters  of  the  Nile — worn  out  by  hunger  and  sickness. 
The  King  of  Jerusalem  went  himself  to  the  sultan. 
'  There  he  sat  down,  and  shed  tears.  "  Sire,"  said  the 
sultan,  "why  do  you  weep?"  "Sire,"  replied  the 
king,  "  I  do  well  to  weep,  for  the  people  with  whom 
God  has  charged  me  I  see  perishing  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters,  and  dying  of  hunger."  The  sultan  had  pity  on 
the  king,  and  wept  himself,  and  every  day,  for  nearly  a 
week,  sent  thirty  thousand  loaves  to  poor  and  rich.' 

So  ended  a  Crusade  which  showed  neither  prudence 
nor  bravery,  which  began  with  an  artificially-excited 
enthusiasm,  and  was  carried  on  by  the  leaders  in 
hopes  of  gaining  personal  distinction.  There  was  no 
discipline,  no  strong  bond  of  a  common  hope ;  the 
knights  deserted  the  banners  after  a  defeat,  and  went 
home,  some  of  them  without  even  striking  a  blow ;  and 
even  in  this  time  of  relic-worship  the  wood  of  the  Cross 
failed  to  animate  the  spirits  of  the  soldiers.  Of  all  the 
Crusades,  this  was  the  least  worthy  of  success,  the  least 
animated  by  religious  ardour. 

We  are  next  to  see  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  abso- 
lutely effected  by  a  Crusader,  but  by  a  Crusader  under 
excommunication  and  interdict,  by  means  of  a  treaty 
with  the  Mohammedans,  and  actually  against  the  will 
and  wishes  of  the  Church.     It  is  a  troubled  and  tangled 


FREDERICK  THE  SECOND.  50/ 

web  of  dissimulation,  ambition,  and  interested  motives, 
into  which  we  dare  not  venture.*  On  the  one  hand  we 
have  a  sovereign,  clear-sighted,  gifted  with  a  strong  will, 
highly  educated,  equal  at  all  points  of  scholarship  and 
attainments  to  any  Churchman,  holding  tolerant  views 
as  to  differences  of  religion,  a  poet,  a  musician,  and  an 
artist ;  one,  too,  who  loved  to  associate  with  poets  and 
artists ;  a  king  who  surrounded  himself  with  Mo- 
hammedan friends,  and  made  no  sign  of  displeasure 
when  they  performed  the  devotions  due  to  their  religion 
in  his  very  presence  ;  a  lawyer  far  in  advance  of  his  age, 
a  gallant  lover,  and  a  magnificent  prince.  In  his 
Sicilian  Court  he  welcomed  alike  Christian,  Jew,  and 
Mohammedan — even  Saracen  ladies.  Here  the  sturdy 
and  uncompromising  faith  of  Western  Europe  was 
shorn  of  its  strength,  and  sapped  by  the  spirit  of 
toleration,  or,  even  worse,  by  the  spirit  of  free- 
thinking.  Frederick  himself  wrote  and  spoke  Arabic ; 
he  corresponded  with  the  Sultan  of  Damascus,  receiving 
from  him,  and  propounding  himself,  curious  questions 
in  geometry.  Society,  in  fact,  modern  society,  born 
before  its  time,  was  about  to  grow  up  amid  the  fostering 
influences  of  Frederick,  when  its  growth  was  checked 
and  destroyed  by  the  interposition  of  the  pope.  For, 
on  the  one  side  stood  the  Monk ;  cold,  bigoted,  cut  off 
from  social  influences,  old  in  the  practice  of  austerities, 
fanatic  in  the  cause  of  the  Church,  arrogating  to  him- 
self the  blind  obedience  of  the  whole  world,  claiming 
ever  more  and  more  the  domination  over  men's  hearts. 
The  Monk,  personified  by  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  formerly 
the  Cardinal  Ugolino,  confronted  the  king,  and  bade 

*  See  Milman's  '  Hist,  of  Latin  Christianity,'  vol.  iv.,  p.  196  et 
seqn  for  as  clear  a  statement  of  the  imbroglio  between  Frederick 
and  the  pope  as  can  well  be  looked  for. 


508  JERUSALEM. 


him  do  his  bidding;  while,  to  his  monastic  eyes,  the 
existence  of  such  a  court  as  that  of  Frederick's  was 
blasphemous,  devilish,  and  full  of  sin. 

Frederick  had  taken  the  Cross.  He  had,  moreover, 
pledged  himself  to  embark  from  the  Holy  Land  in 
August,  1227.  The  time  approached.  Frederick  had 
already  opened  up  negotiations  with  El  Melek  el  Kamil, 
the  Sultan  of  Egypt.  Presents  had  passed  between 
them.  Even  an  elephant  had  been  sent,  and  the 
Church  shuddered  at  this  big  and  visible  proof  of 
treachery  on  the  part  of  Frederick.  Pilgrims  mean- 
time assembled  by  thousands,  and  from  all  parts ; 
Frederick  failed  in  having  provisions  and  ships  for  all 
the  throng ;  the  heats  of  summer  came  on  with 
violence,  and  fever  broke  out.  But  the  fleet  sailed 
with  Frederick.  Three  days  afterwards  his  ship  came 
back.     He  was  ill,  and  could  not  go. 

Old  Pope  Gregory  saw  his  opportunity.  He  would 
use  his  power.  Frederick  was  not  ill,  but  only  pretend- 
ing illness.  He  preached  from  the  text,  '  It  must  needs 
be  that  offences  come,  but  woe  unto  him  through  whom 
they  come.'  He  pronounced  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication. Frederick  wrote,  on  hearing  of  this,  in 
perfect  good  temper,  calmly  stating  the  fact  of  his 
illness :  he  took  no  notice  of  the  excommunication  ; 
but,  after  holding  a  Diet  of  the  Barons  of  Apulia,  he 
issued  an  appeal  to  Christendom,  calling  on  all  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  to  shake  off  the  intolerable  yoke 
of  the  priests,  and  declaring  his  own  innocence  in  the 
matter  of  the  broken  covenant.  He  called  to  witness 
the  ill-treatment  and  ingratitude  with  which  the  Church 
had  always  repaid  those  who  submitted — the  malice 
and  bitterness  with  which  the  Church  had  always 
persecuted   those   who    refused    to    submit ;    and    he 


FREDERICK  THE  SECOND.  509 

pointed  to  the  power  and  wealth  of  Rome  as  contrasted 
with  the  poverty  of  the  early  Church.  In  the  long 
history  of  the  world's  revolt  against  the  pretensions  of 
the  priesthood,  which  has  never  for  a  moment  ceased 
since  these  pretensions  first  began  to  make  themselves 
heard,  no  more  remarkable  document  has  ever  been 
issued,  save  only  the  famous  theses  of  Luther. 

Frederick  was  rewarded  by  a  second  excommunica- 
tion, and  the  pope  placed  every  town  in  which  he  might 
be  under  interdict.  Then  the  people  of  Rome  rose  in 
insurrection,  and  the  pope  fled. 

Frederick  went  to  the  Holy  Land.  If  he  wished  to 
avoid  fighting  with  his  friends,  the  Saracens,  he  had 
certainly  succeeded ;  because  the  Crusaders,  forty 
thousand  in  number,  on  hearing  of  Frederick's  return 
to  Italy,  all  embarked  and  went  home  again.  The  king, 
notwithstanding  a  peremptory  order  from  the  pope  for- 
bidding him  to  embark  so  long  as  he  was  under  the  ban 
of  the  Church,  set  sail  with  a  small  fleet  of  twenty 
galleys,  and  six  hundred  knights.  He  arrived  at  Acre. 
The  Knights  Templars  and  Hospitallers  received  him 
as  their  king.  Frederick  was  now  married  to  Yolante, 
the  daughter  of  John  of  Brienne,  from  whom  he  took 
the  crown  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  ground  that  he  only 
held  it  in  right  of  his  wife,  whose  rights  were  now 
descended  to  her  daughter.  The  clergy  refused  to 
meet  him,  and  there  came  messengers  from  the  pope, 
by  whose  command  the  knights  of  the  Orders  withdrew 
their  help.  Frederick  went  his  own  way.  He  sent 
Balian,  Prince  of  Tyre,  as  an  ambassador  to  El  Melek  el 
Kamil,  who  sent  him  back  with  valuable  presents, 
Saracenic  robes,  singers  and  dancing  girls,  and,  above 
all,  Frederick's  old  friend  Fakhr-ed-din.  Then  the 
Templars  wrote  to  the  sultan  proposing  the  assassina- 


5io  JERUSALEM. 


tion  of  the  emperor.  Kamil  quickly  sent  on  the  letter 
to  his  friend,  who  read  it  and  said  nothing.  The  nego- 
tiations between  Frederick  and  Kamil  went  on  in 
secrecy ;  they  were  so  far  advanced  that  the  former 
found  himself  in  a  position  to  disclose  to  the  barons  the 
terms  proposed.  He  sent  for  the  Grand  Masters  of  the 
two  Orders,  and  submitted  his  proposals  to  them. 
They  refused  to  act  without  the  patriarch.  Frederick, 
knowing  well  enough  that  the  patriarch  would  refuse  to 
act  without  the  pope's  consent,  replied  that  he  could 
do  without  that  prelate.  And  then  the  treaty  was 
signed.  The  Christians  were  to  have  Jerusalem, 
except  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  where  the  Mohammedans 
were  to  worship  freely ;  the  Saracens  were  to  have 
their  own  tribunal ;  the  emperor,  King  of  Jerusalem,  was 
to  send  no  succour  to  any  who  might  attack  the  sultan  ; 
with  some  minor  points.  And  as  soon  as  the  treaty 
was  signed,  the  Germans  set  off  with  Frederick,  and 
the  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Knights,  to  the  Holy  City. 
The  Christians  had  got  back  their  city.  The  Church  of 
Christ  refused  to  have  it,  or  to  acknowledge,  in  any 
way,  the  treaty.  Frederick  rode  into  the  city  to  find 
the  church  empty  and  deserted.  With  his  knights  and 
soldiers  he  marched  up  the  aisle,  took  the  crown  from 
the  altar,  and  put  it  on  his  own  head,  without  oath  or 
religious  ceremony  of  any  kind.  Nor  did  he  affect  any 
religious  zeal  or  manifest  any  emotion.  '  I  promised  I 
would  come,'  he  said,  '  and  I  am  here.'  It  was  his 
answer  to  the  world,  and  his  defiance  of  the  pope.  His 
vow  was  fulfilled,  in  a  literal  sense ;  but  the  Crusade 
was  ruined.  He  had  done  more  than  any  other  king 
since  Godfrey ;  he  had  recovered  the  city,  but  without 
slaughtering  the  infidel,  and  subject  to  the  conditions 
that  the  Mohammedans  were  to  practise  their  religion 


CESSION  OF  JERUSA  LEAL  5 1 1 

within  its  walls.  What  did  Frederick  care  for  a 
religion  which  he  confounded  with  the  gloomy  teaching 
of  his  ecclesiastical  enemies  ?  '  I  am  not  here,'  he 
confided  to  his  friend  Fakhr-ed-din,  'to  deliver  the  Holy 
City,  but  to  maintain  my  own  credit.' 

And  two  days  after  his  coronation  he  went  away 
again,  in  cynical  contempt  of  the  city  and  its  church. 
He  wrote  a  letter  to  the  pope  and  sovereigns  of 
Europe,  stating  that  he  had,  '  by  miracle,'  taken  the 
city,  which  was  henceforth  Christian.  The  pope,  in  an 
agony  of  rage  at  the  way  in  which  his  enemy  had 
ignored  his  excommunication,  foamed  at  the  mouth, 
and  called  the  treaty  a  treaty  of  Belial.  Moreover,  he 
could  not  but  feel  the  awful  irony  of  the  situation, 
when  Jerusalem  itself,  and  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  were  forbidden  to  have  the  service  of  the 
Christian  religion  performed  in  them,  because  their 
deliverer,  a  Christian  king,  was  under  the  interdict  of 
the  pope.  And  here,  reluctantly,  we  must  leave  the 
fortunes  of  Frederick;  not,  perhaps,  a  good  man,  but  a 
better  man  than  the  arrogant  and  implacable  monk 
who  opposed  him ;  and,  perhaps,  from  an  uneccle- 
siastical  point  of  view,  the  best  man  in  a  high  place  at 
that  time  in  all  the  world. 

The  treaty  was  signed  in  1229.  Frederick,  in  leaving 
Palestine,  left  the  Christians  without  a  chief,  without  a 
head.  The  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  always  dreading 
an  attack  from  the  Saracens,  were  constantly  taking 
refuge  in  the  Tower  of  David,  or  the  surrounding 
deserts.  The  patriarch,  who  had  done  most  to  estrange 
the  emperor,  wrote  letter  after  letter,  imploring  for 
help.  How  many  such  letters  had  been  sent  since  the 
Crusades  had  first  commenced  ?  Gregory  had  con- 
cluded some  sort  of  reconciliation  with  Frederick,  and 


512  JERUSALEM. 


now  asked  his  help  in  an  attempt  to  get  up  a  new- 
Crusade.  It  was  left  to  the  Franciscan  friars — Saint 
Francis  of  Assisi  had  himself  been  present  at  the 
Crusade  of  King  Andrew — to  preach  this.  There  were 
found  a  large  number  of  barons  in  France  to  enrol 
their  names ;  and  by  the  Council  of  Tours  it  was 
resolved  that  the  Cross  should  no  longer  be  a  pretext 
for  the  safety  of  every  sort  of  criminal.  But  while  the 
Crusaders  were  assembling  came  the  news  of  the  down- 
fall of  the  Latin  kingdom  of  Constantinople,  and  a 
discussion  began  as  to  whether  it  were  better  to  go  to 
the  help  of  that  city  instead  of  Jerusalem.  And  before 
they  had  decided,  came  a  message  from  Frederick 
to  wait  for  him.  While  they  waited,  civil  war  broke 
out  in  Italy.  The  old  animosity  between  Frederick 
and  the  pope  was  revived ;  and  worse  than  this,  the 
treaty  which  Frederick  had  made  with  El  Melek  el 
Kamil,  which  was  for  ten  years  only,  expired  ;  and 
the  Saracens  from  Kerak,  marching  suddenly  upon 
Jerusalem,  took  it  without  the  least  resistance,  and 
razed  the  Tower  of  David.  The  pope  had  forbidden 
the  Crusaders  to  leave  Europe  ;  but  in  spite  of  his 
prohibition,  a  small  army,  under  the  Duke  of  Brittany 
and  the  Count  of  Champagne,  landed  in  Acre.  After 
a  few  ineffective  forays,  they  experienced  a  defeat 
which  cost  them  the  loss  of  many  of  their  leaders.  So 
they  all  went  home  again,  and  were  replaced  by  the 
English  prince,  Richard  of  Cornwall,  who  afterwards 
called  himself  Emperor  of  Germany.  The  Saracens 
thought  that  Richard  Lion  Heart  was  coming  back 
again,  and  awaited  his  approach  with  the  keenest  terror. 
But  he  did  nothing.  Abandoned  both  by  Templars 
and  Hospitallers,  he  contented  himself  with  ransoming 
the  Christian  prisoners,  and,  after  visiting  Jerusalem 


THE  KHAREZMIANS.  513 


and  worshipping  at  the  Holy  Places,  Richard  returned 
to  Europe,  and  the  turmoil  of  European  wars. 

And  now  a  new  enemy  appeared  in  the  field.  The 
people  of  Kh'arezm,  driven  westwards  by  the  Tartars, 
came  into  Syria,  a  wild  and  ferocious  band,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  sparing  neither  Mohammedans  nor 
Christians.  Had  the  forces  in  Syria  been  united,  a 
successful  stand  might  have  been  made  against  them. 
But  the  Mohammedans  were  divided  among  them- 
selves, and  the  Sultan  of  Cairo  offered  the  Kharezmians 
Palestine  for  their  own,  if  they  would  conquer  it.  They 
accepted  the  offer  with  joy,  and  marched  twenty  thou- 
sand strong  upon  Jerusalem.  All  the  people  in  the 
city  abandoned  it  hastily,  except  the  helpless  poor  and 
infirm.  These  the  Kharezmians  found  in  their  beds, 
and  after  killing  them,  thirsting  for  more  blood,  they 
inveigled  back  the  Christians  by  hoisting  the  flags  of 
the  Cross.  The  flying  Christians,  looking  round  from 
time  to  time,  caught  sight  at  last  of  the  banner  of 
victory.  Satisfied  that  God  had  delivered  the  city  by 
a  special  miracle,  and  hearing,  moreover,  the  bell  ring 
for  prayer,  they  trooped  back  to  the  city.  Directly  they 
were  within  the  gates,  the  Kharezmians,  who  had  only 
withdrawn  a  short  distance,  returned  and  surrounded 
them.  In  the  depth  of  night  the  unhappy  Christians 
endeavoured  to  fly.  They  were  all  cut  to  pieces. 
None  were  spared.  And  the  barbarians  then  turned 
their  wrath  upon  the  very  tombs,  and  tore  up  the 
coffins  of  Godfrey  and  Baldwin,  which  they  burned 
with  all  the  sacred  relics  they  could  find. 

The  Templars  at  Acre  called  on  the  Saracen  princes 
of  Damascus,  Emessa,  and  Kerak,  to  make  common 
cause  against  their  common  enemy.  They  came  to 
Acre,  headed  by  the  valiant  El  Melik  el  Mensur,  Prince 

33 


514  JERUSALEM. 

of  Emessa,  whose  entrance  into  the  city  was  greeted 
with  shouts  of  applause.  The  allied  armies  met  the 
Kharezmians  on  the  plain  of  Philistia,  the  battlefield 
of  so  many  periods  and  so  many  peoples.  A  curious 
incident  is  told,  which  took  place  before  the  battle. 
The  Count  of  Jaffa,  an  excommunicated  man,  asked 
the  patriarch,  who  was  there  with  his  wood  of  the 
Cross,  as  usual,  for  absolution.  He  refused  it.  Again 
he  asked,  to  be  again  refused.  But  then  the  Bishop  of 
Rama,  impatient  of  his  superior's  obstinacy,  cried  out, 
'  Never  mind.  The  patriarch  is  wrong,  and  I  absolve 
you  myself  Of  course  one  priest's  absolution  is  as 
good  as  another's,  and  the  count  went  into  battle,  to  be 
killed  with  a  light  heart.  They  fought  all  that  day,  and 
all  the  next  day,  with  a  ferocity  which  nothing  could 
equal.  But  then  the  Mohammedans  gave  way,  and  the 
victory  remained  with  the  Kharezmians.  Of  the  allies 
thirty  thousand  lay  dead  on  the  field,  while  of  the  Chris- 
tian knights  there  returned  to  Acre  only  the  Prince  of 
Tyre,  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  with  his  holy  Wood  of 
the  Cross,  thirty-three  Templars,  twenty-six  Knights  of 
St.  John,  and  three  Teutonic  knights.  The  Kharezmians 
came  before  Jaffa.  They  tied  Walter  de  Brienne,  who 
was  their  prisoner,  to  a  cross,  and  told  him  that  unless 
he  exhorted  the  besieged  to  submission  they  would  put 
him  to  death.  He  called  on  the  garrison  to  defend 
themselves  to  the  last  extremity,  and  was  sent  to  Cairo, 
where  he  was  murdered  by  the  mob.  Palestine  was 
relieved  of  the  presence  of  the  Kharezmians  by  the 
Sultan  of  Cairo,  who  sent  them  to  Damascus,  which 
they  took  and  plundered.  They  then  demanded  the 
fulfilment  of  his  promise  as  regarded  the  lands  of 
Palestine.  But  the  sultan  prevaricated,  and  refused, 
sending  ^an  army  of    Egyptians  against   them  ;    they 


SAINT  LOUIS.  515 


were  defeated  in  ten  battles,  and  perish  out  of  history 
altogether,  having  only  appeared  for  the  brief  space  of 
three  or  four  years. 

The  Kharezmians  were  gone ;  but  the  Christians, 
who  had  suffered  most  of  any  at  their  hands,  were  in  a 
condition  of  terrible  weakness.  So  threatening  was 
the  state  of  affairs,  that  they  once  more  forced  their 
claims  on  the  pope,  and  showed  how,  without  help, 
they  were  all  undone.  The  pope  renewed  all  the 
privileges  accorded  by  his  predecessor  to  those  who 
took  the  Cross.  And  then  followed  the  Crusades  of 
Saint  Louis.  Of  his  expedition  to  Egypt,  the  siege  of 
Damietta,  the  calamities  which  befell  his  army,  his 
own  captivity,  his  ransom  and  freedom,  we  cannot  here 
speak.  They  belong  to  the  special  history  of  the 
Crusades. 

It  was  in  1250,  after  his  return,  that  Saint  Louis 
visited  Acre.  He  had  with  him  a  small  number  of 
knights,  all  in  rags,  and  deprived  of  everything.  A 
pestilence  broke  out  in  the  city.  Louis  remained,  en- 
deavouring to  ransom  the  twelve  thousand  Christian 
captives  from  the  Sultan  of  Cairo.  Meantime  he  was 
urgently  wanted  at  home,  where  that  most  singular 
movement,  known  as  the  revolt  of  the  Pastoureaux,  was 
distracting  his  country.  And  all  efforts  failed  to  raise 
bands  of  new  Crusaders.  Some,  however,  went  to  join 
the  king.  Among  them  was  a  Norwegian  knight, 
named  '  Alenar  de  Selingan,'  according  to  Joinville, 
who,  with  his  companions,  beguiled  the  time  till  they 
should  be  fighting  the  Saracens  by  slaying  the  lions  in 
the  desert.  The  Sheikh  of  the  Assassins  also  sent  an 
embassy  with  presents  to  Louis,  asking  for  his  friend- 
ship, and  offering  to  remain  as  firmly  allied  to  him  '  as 
the  fingers    on   the   hand   or  the   shirt  to  the    body.' 

33—2 


516  JERUSALEM. 


Ives,  a  monk  who  could  speak  Arabic,  was  sent  back 
on  the  part  of  the  king  with  a  present  of  gold  and 
silver  cups  and  scarlet  mantles.  He  brought  back  a 
confused  and  wondrous  story  of  the  religion  of  this 
sect  (see  p.  359).  He  described  them,  oddly,  as  having 
a  wonderful  veneration  for  Peter,  whom  they  main- 
tained to  be  still  alive.  And  he  told  how  a  mournful 
silence  reigned  round  the  castle  of  the  Sheikh,  and 
how,  when  he  appeared  in  public,  a  herald  went  before, 
crying  out,  '  Whoever  you  are,  fear  to  appear  before 
him  who  holds  in  his  hand  the  life  and  death  of 
kings.' 

Louis,  meantime,  was  repairing  the  fortification  of 
Csesarea  and  Jaffa,  and  making  severe  laws  against  the 
dissolute  morals  of  the  Christians  in  the  East  and 
of  his  own  men.  His  knights  went  on  pilgrimages  to 
Jerusalem,  whither  he  refused  himself  to  go.  But  he 
went  to  Nazareth,  to  Mount  Tabor,  and  other  sacred 
places. 

After  a  little  fighting,  the  news  of  his  mother's  death 
determined  him  to  go  home.  He  sailed  in  1254,  having 
been  four  years  engaged  in  his  disastrous  expedition, 
which  only  had  the  effect  of  making  the  Mohammedans 
cautious  how  far  they  attacked  the  Christian  settle- 
ments, and  mindful  of  the  exasperation  into  which 
their  fall  might  throw  the  West  of  Europe.  The  sub- 
sequent efforts  to  raise  a  Crusade  all  failed.  The  poets 
as  well  as  the  priests  did  their  best,  but  with  no  success. 
It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  there  is  not  a  word 
about  crusading  in  the  whole  of  the  '  Romance  of  the 
Rose,'  except  a  reference  or  two  to  the  palm  of  the 
pilgrim.  Neither  of  its  writers,  certainly,  was  at  all 
likely  to  be  touched  by  the  crusading  enthusiasm. 
Rutebeuf,  however,  throws  himself  into  the  projected 


RUTEBEUF.  517 

Crusade    with     extraordinary   vigour.       '  Ha !    roi    de 
France  !'  he  cries — 

'  Ha  !  roi  de  France  ! 
Acre  est  toute  jor  en  balance.' 

He  laments  that  no  one  will  come  to  the  help  of  the 

sacred  places. 

'Ah  !  Antioch  ;  ah  !    Holy  Land, 
Thy  piteous  wail  has  reached  this  strand. 
We  have  no  Godfrey,  brave  and  bold  ; 
The  fire  of  charity  is  cold 

In  every  Christian  heart  ; 
And  Jacobin  and  Cordelier 
May  preach,  but  not  for  love  or  fear 
Will  soldier  now  depart.' 

He  shows,  too,  the  change  come  over  the  thoughts  of 
men  by  giving  a  dispute  between  a  croise  and  one  who 
refuses  to  take  the  Cross,  in  which  the  latter  advances 
the  startling  proposition,  not  heard  since  the  time  of 
Origen,  that  a  man  can  very  well  get  to  heaven 
without  '  pilgrimizing,'  and  without  fighting  for  the 
Cross.* 

But  Rutebeuf  is  very  urgent.  He  laments  the  decay 
of  religious  zeal. 

'  O'ergrown  with  grass  the  long  road  lies, 

Thick  trodden  once  by  eager  feet, 
When  men  pressed  on  with  streaming  eyes, 

Themselves  to  offer  at  God's  seat. 
They  send,  instead,  wax  tapers  now  ; 
God  has  no  true  hearts  left  below.' 

The  fatal  thing,  however,  was  a  feeling  slowly  growing 
up  that  it  was  God's  will  that  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre  should  belong  to  the  infidel ;  and  a  bishop  of 
a   somewhat  later  time  gives  three  reasons  for  this ; 

*  '  Je  dis  que  cil  est  foux  nayx, 

Qui  se  mest  en  autrui  servage 
Quant  Dieu  peut  gaaigner  sayx 
Et  vivre  de  son  heritage.' 


518  JERUSALEM. 


namely,  first,  as  a  plea  for  the  Christians ;  second,  for 
the  confusion  of  the  Saracens ;  and,  thirdly,  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Jews.  And  for  the  first  reason  he 
argues  that  Christians  will  never  be  allowed  to  have 
the  city  again  till  they  are  sinless,  because  God  will  not 
have  His  children  commit  sin  in  such  a  place ;  as  for 
the  Saracens,  they  are,  of  course,  only  dogs ;  now  the 
master  of  a  house  is  not  very  careful  about  the  be- 
haviour of  his  dogs,  but  he  cannot  bear  ill  behaviour 
on  the  part  of  his  children. 

Little  now  remains  to  tell,  because  Jerusalem  passes 
away  from  history,  and  the  events  which  follow  are 
hardly  even  indirectly  concerned  with  the  Holy  City. 
Louis  led  another  Crusade,  and  met  his  death  at  Tunis. 
Edward  of  England,  with  his  brother  Edmund,  and 
eight  hundred  men  came  to  Acre,  but  were,  of  course, 
of  little  use  with  so  small  a  reinforcement ;  and,  after 
concluding  a  treaty  with  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  they,  too, 
departed.  Then  twenty  years  of  expectation  and  fear 
pass  away ;  Europe  looks  with  indifference  upon  the 
Holy  Land  ;  Laodicea  is  taken  ;  Tripoli  is  taken  ;  and, 
lastly,  Acre  itself  is  taken.  The  siege  of  this,  the  last 
place  held  by  the  Christians,  lasted  a  month,  when  the 
Mohammedans  entered  the  city,  after  a  furious  assault. 
They  were  driven  back  by  arrows  and  stones  hurled 
from  the  houses  ;  day  after  day  they  came  on,  were 
repelled  with  slaughter,  and  every  day  the  Christians 
saw  their  camp  growing  larger  and  larger.  The 
military  orders  fought  with  a  heroism  which  caused 
the  Saracens  to  think  that  two  men  were  fighting  in 
every  knight.  But  the  end  came  at  length,  with  a  great 
and  terrible  carnage.  The  nuns,  trembling,  and  yet 
heroic,  actually  preserved  their  honour  by  cutting  off 
their  noses,  so  that  the  Saracens  only  killed  them.    The 


LATER  PILGRIMS. 


519 


Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  was  put  on  board  a  ship,  en- 
treating to  be  allowed  to  die  with  his  flock.  The  ship 
sank,  and  he  was  drowned,  so  that  his  prayer  was 
granted.     A  violent  storm  was  raging.     Ladies  rushed 


to  the  port,  offering  the  sailors  all  they  had,  diamonds, 
pearls,  and  gold,  to  be  put  on  board.  Those  who  had 
no  money  or  jewels  were  left  on  the  shore  to  the  mercies 
of  the  victors.  The  Templars  held  out  in  their  castle  a 
few  days  longer,  and  then  surrendered.    All  were  killed. 


52o  JERUSALEM. 


So  ended,  after  two  hundred  years  of  continued  fighting, 
the  Christian  settlements  in  Palestine.*  The  West 
heard  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Acre  with  a  sort  of  un- 
reasoning rage,  and  instantly  set  about  mutual  accusa- 
tions as  to  the  cause  of  its  fall.  And  the  wretched 
Pullani,  the  Syrian  Christians,  who  had  survived  the 
taking  of  Acre,  dropped  over  one  by  one  to  Italy,  and 
begged  their  bread  in  the  streets  while  they  told  the 
story  of  their  fall. 

Pilgrims  and  travellers  continued  to  visit  Jerusalem. 
Sir  John  Mandeville  was  there,  early  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  describes  the  churches  and  sacred  sites,  but 
says  little  enough  about  the  condition  of  the  people. 
Bertrandon  de  la  Roquiere  was  there  a  hundred  years 
later.  He  says  that  though  there  were  many  other 
Christians  in  Jerusalem,  the  Franks  experienced  the 
greatest  amount  of  persecution  from  the  Saracens,  and 
that  there  were  only  two  Cordeliers  in  the  Church  of 
the  Sepulchre.  And  in  the  same  century  Ignatius 
Loyola  twice  went  on  pilgrimage.  He  wished  to  end 
his  days  in  Palestine,  but  this  was,  unhappily,  denied 
him,  and  he  returned,  to  be  a  curse  to  the  world  by 
establishing  his  society.  Among  other  pilgrims,  passing 
over  various  princes  and  kings,  may  be  mentioned 
Korte,  the  bookseller  of  Altona,  early  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  who  was  the  first  to  assail  the  authenticity 
of  the  sites  ;  and  Henry  Maundrell,  chaplain  to  the 
English  factory  at  Aleppo. 

But  during  the  interval  of  five  hundred  years 
Jerusalem  has  been  without  a  history.     Nothing  has 

*  In  the  same  year  the  house  of  the  Virgin  was  miraculously 
transferred  from  Nazareth  to  a  hill  in  Dalmatia  ;  whence,  by 
another  miracle,  it  came  to  Loretto.  Why  did  not  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  come  too  ? 


CONCLUSION.  521 


happened  but  an  occasional  act  of  brutality  on  the  part 
of  her  masters  towards  the  Christians,  or  an  occasional 
squabble  among  the  ecclesiastics.  Perhaps,  some  time, 
the  day  may  come  when  all  together  will  be  agreed  that 
there  is  no  one  spot  in  the  world  more  holy  than 
another,  in  spite  of  associations,  because  the  whole 
earth  is  the  Lord's.  Then  the  tender  interest  which 
those  who  read  the  Scriptures  will  always  have  for  the 
places  which  the  writers  knew  so  well  may  have  a  fuller 
and  freer  play,  apart  from  lying  traditions,  monkish 
legends,  and  superstitious  impostures.  For,  to  use  the 
words  which  Cicero  applied  to  Athens,  there  is  not  one 
spot  in  all  this  city,  no  single  place  where  the  foot  may 
tread,  which  does  not  possess  its  history. 


INDEX. 


Abu  Bekr,  73 

Abu  '1  Casim,  482 

Abu  '1  Faraj,  481 

Abu  '1  Fath  Nasr,  481 

Abu  Ishak,  478 

Abu  Obeidah,  75,  473 

Abu  Said  Barkuk,  486 

Abu  Taher,  104 

Abiidat  ibn  es  Samit,  474 

Acre,  408,  449,  455 

Adana,  183 

Adhemar,  159,  189,  191,  193 

yElia  Capitolina,  60 

Afdhal,  216,  367 

Agrippa,  chap.  i. 

Akiba  (Rabbi),  56 

Albinus,  9 

Alexandria    surrenders  to  Shirkoh, 

342  ;  taken  by  Amaury,  343 
Alexis  Comnenus,  chap.  vi. 
Alice  of  Antioch,  281,  289 
Alimi,  El,  489 
Al  Imam  es  Shafi,  486 
Amaury,  King,  chap.  xiv. 
Amaury  de  Lusignan,  496 
Andrew's  Crusade,  504 
Anselm,  vision  of,  197 
Antioch,  siege  of,  187 
Antoninus,  129 
Arabs,    their  characters    and    arts, 

100 
Armenians,  475 
Arm  of  Ambrose,  loss  of,  231 
Arnold,  194,  205,  241 
Arnulphus,  129 
Ascalon,  116,  344,  455 
Ashraf  Barsebai,  Sultan,  486 

Catibai,  Sultan  El,  490 

Einal,  Sultan  El,  489 

Shaban,  Es  Sultan,  486 

Assassins,  murder  of  messenger,  356: 

sect  of,  359 
Assises  de  Jerusalem,  224 


Babain,  battle  of,  341 

Baghi  Seyan,  187 

Baldwin  I.,  chap,  viii.,  183,  223. 

II.,  chap.  ix. 

III.,  chap,  xi.,  298 

IV.,  chap.  xiii. 

V.,  373 

Baldwin  du   Bourg,  249,   253,  and 

chap.  ix. 
Balian  of  Ibelin,  393 
Barcochebas,  57 
Battle  of  Lake  Huleh,  324 
Bedawin  in  Jerusalem,  493 
Beirut,  attempt  on,  463 
Belial  ibn  Rubah,  473 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  365 
Berenice,  14 
Bernard,  334 
Beitram  of  Tripoli,  251 
Bertrand  de  Blanqueford,  346 
Bether,  59 

■ ,  identification  of,  60 

Beyrout,  11 

,  taking  of,  253 

Bir  el  Warakah  (Well  of  the  Leaf), 

471 
Bishop's  Pilgrimage,  149 
Blanchegarde,  296 
Bohemond,  172,  246 
Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  127 
Burham-ed-din,  Sheikh,  488 
Burziyeh,  castle  of,  445 

Cadam  es  S  her  if,  468 
Cadhi  of  Jerusalem,  488 
Caesarea,  8,  18,  198,  242 
Calaun,  Es  Sultan,  485 
Caliph  of  Cairo,  340 
Carmathians,  the,  104 
Carrier  pigeons,  448 
Cestius  Gallus,  11  ;  defeat  of,  18 
Chain,  ordeal  of  the,  448 
Charlemagne,  136 


INDEX. 


523 


Chiefs  of  First  Crusade,  148 

Children's  Crusade,  500 

Chosroes  takes  Jerusalem  and  de- 
stroys Church  of  Holy  Sepul- 
chre, 70 

Christians  of  city  imprisoned,  493 

Claudius  Felix,  6 

Clermont,  Council  of,  158 

Ccenaculum,  487 

Coloman,  King,  chap.  vi. 

Completion  of  Temple,  10 

Conrad  of  Tyre,  408 

Constance  of  Antioch,  343 

Constantine  builds  Basilica,  64  ;  de- 
crees against  Jews,  67 

Cruelty  of  Christians,  452,  454 

Crusades,  time  ripe  for,  185 

Crusaders,  return  of,  219 

Cubbet  el  Miraj,  470 

Cuspius  Fadus,  4 

Dagobert,  223,  239,  240,  241,  246 
Damascus,  siege  of,  305 
Damietta,  505 

,  Greek  fleet  at,  352 

Darum,  capture  of,  459 

Dhaher  Chakmak,  El  Melik,  487 

,  El  Melik  el,  488 

Dhia-ed-Din,  483 

Dome  of  the  Rock,  erection  of,  86  ; 

repair  of,  91,  102  ;  inscription  in, 

94  ;  not  a  mosque,  93 
Druzes,  their  teaching,  115 

Earthquake  in  Palestine,  352 

Eastern  Cloisters,  10 

Edessa,  fall  of,  301 

Edgar  Atheling,  171 

Edrei,  303 

Effects  of  Christian  occupation,  273 

El  Adhed,  369 

El  Arish,  257 

El  Emad,  445 

El  Ghazali,  432 

Eleanor,  Queen,  313 

Emico,  167 

End  of  the  world  expected,  146 

Es  Sirat,  Bridge  of,  471 

Eusebius,  63  et  seq. 

Eustace  de  Bouillon,  263 

Gamier,  265 

Ezz-ed-din,  490 

Fair  of  September,  139 


Fakhr-ed-din,  509 

Falek-ed-din,  460 

Famine  in  city,  491 

Fatemite  Caliphs,  334 

Festus,  9,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16 

Florus,  Gessius,  11,  12,  13,  14 

Foulcher  de  Chartres,  236 

Fragrant  herb,  consecration  of  the, 

477 
Francis  of  Assisi,  572 
Frederic,  D.  of  Swabia,  408 
Frederick  II.,  506 

Red  beard,  407 

Freisingen,  Bishop  of,  312 
Frotmond,  story  of,  136 
Fulke,  chap,  x.,  282 
the  Black,  146 

Garnier  de  Grey,  234 
Gessius  Florus,  1 1 
Ghars-ed-din,  491 
Godfrey,  chap,  vii.,  170,  205 
Gorgona,  disaster  in  the  Valley  of, 

181 
Gotschalk,  166 
Gregory  IX.,  507 
Guy  de  Lusignan,  chap,  xiv.,  377 
Guymer,  185 

Hadrian,   56  ;    builds   Temple   of 

Jupiter  on  site  of  Temple,  60 
Hajj,  the,  466 
Hakem,  el,  10S,  142 
Haram  repaired,  494 
Harun  Er  Raschki,  136 
Helena,   Life  of,   61  ;  Invention  of 

the  Cross,  62 
Henry  of  Champagne,  410,  495 
Heraclius,  72,  74,  76 

the  Patriarch,  379 

Hisam-ed-din,  490 

Holy  Fire,  miracle  of,  241 

Holy  Grail,  the,  243 

Holy  Lance,   vision    of  the,    191  ; 

discovery  of,  192 
Holy  Sepulchre,  discovery  of,  63  ; 

adornment  of,  64 
Hugh  of  Caesarea,  339 

of  Jaffa,  291 

Vermandois,  172,  231,  235 

Humphrey  de  Toron,  377,  452 

Ida  of  Austria,  231 
Interdicts  in  Palestine,  322 


524 


INDEX. 


Jami-en-Nisa,  471 

Jerome,  125 

Jerusalem,  repair  of  the  walls,  457 

,  siege  of,  by  Titus,  chap.  ii. 

,  siege  and  fall  of,  395 

,  taking  of,  by  Saladin,  585 

Jesus,  son  of  Ananus,  27 
Jews,  heroism  of,  48 
Jocelyn,  262,  264,  289 

II.,  300 

John  de  Brienne,  505 

Comnenus,  293 

of  Gischala,  chap.  ii. 

Josephus,  chap.  ii. 
Judas  the  Galilaean,  3 

Julian,     attempts    to     rebuild     the 
Temple,  67 

Ka'abeh,  the  desertion  of,  105 

Khalit  ibn  el  Walid,  474 

Kharezmians,  513 

Khotbah  of  Muhiy-ed-din,  433 

King,  choice  of,  211 

Knights  Hospitallers,  foundation  of, 

275 

Templars,  foundation  of,  276 

Kokeb,  capture  of,  443 

Lietbert,  149 
Longsword,  William,  375 
Louis  VII.,  chap.  x. 

IX,  515 

Macam  en  nebe,  470 

Macarias,  149 

Magharah,  the,  468 

Manahem,  17 

Manners  of  the  Syrian  Christians, 

328 
Maria  of  Constantinople,  344 
Masjid  el  Aksa,  85,  434 
Mejir-ed-din,  490 
Milan,   Bishop  of,   231  ;    his  army 

entirely  destroyed,  232 
Milicent,  293,  300,  325 
Milo  de  Plancy,  374 
Moazzem,  El  Melik  el,  484 
Modern  city,  chap.  xix. 
Mohammedan  beliefs,  471 

pilgrims,  chap.  xvii. 

Mohammed  ibn  Karram,  481 

,  Sultan,  484 

Montferrat,  assassination  of  Marquis 

of,  409,  458 


Montreal,  capture  of,  337 
Mount  Taurus,  passes  of,  186 

Nahr  el  Casb,  battle  of,  455 

Nasir-ed-din,  490 

Nasir  Farj,  Sultan,  486 

Naval    defeat    of    Mohammedans, 

451 
Nero,  8 
Nevers,   Duke  of,  231;   defeat   of, 

232 

,  Count  of,  344 

Nicaea,  battle  of,  169  ;  siege  of,  177 
Nicephorus  Phocas,  106,  141 
Nicolas,  preacher,  447 
Mr-ed-din,  315,  324,  326,  336,  337, 

345.  323,  365 
Nuseiriyeh,  doctrines  of  the,  475 

Odolric,  145 
Omar,  Caliph,  75  et  seq. 
Ordeal  by  fire,  194 
Order  of  St.  Lazarus,  275 

Pancrates,  185 
Paula  and  Eudoxia,  125 
Peregrinationes,  majoreset  minores, 

133 

Peter  the  Hermit,  155,  and  through- 
out chap.  vi. 
Philip  Augustus,  407 

of  Flanders,  376 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  the,  130 

service,  the,  131 

Pilgrimage,  passion  for,  124 
Plague  in  Jerusalem,  493 
Pons  of  Tripoli,  293 
Population  of  Jerusalem,  25 
Porphyry,  125 
Pyrrhus,  189 

Rabbinical  Law,  52 

Rains  at  Jerusalem,  492 

Ramleh,  198,  244 

Raymond,  grand  master  of  Hospit- 
allers, 321 

Raymond  of  Plaisance,  147 

Poitiers,  321 

Toulouse,  171,218,  219, 

229,  249 

Relics,  finding  of,  139,  et  passim 

Renaud  de  Chatillon,  320,  321,  323 
378,  430,  440 

of  Sidon,  457 


INDEX. 


525 


Renegades,    story    of,    at    Cyprus, 

45o 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  chap,  xv., 

and  452 

of  St.  Vitou,  149 

Robert  of  Flanders,  174,  190,  210 

Normandy,  172,  [92 

Orleans,  143 

Roger  of  Antioch,  255 
Rutebeuf,  517 

Sakhrah,  Mohammedan  belief  con- 
cerning, 468 

purification  of,  by  Saladin, 

446 

Saladin,  355,  376,  378,  405,  chap, 
xvi. 

Saladin's  holy  war,  418 

Samaritans,  6,  68 

Second  Crusade,  309 

Seif-ed-din,  399,  452 

Selman  el  Farsi,  477 

Sepulchre,  Church  of  the,  destroyed 
by  Chosroes,  71  ;  rebuilt  by  Mod- 
estus,  71  ;  by  Thomas,  102  ;  de- 
stroyed by  Hakem,  113 

Shakif,  fortress  of,  444 

Sharafal,  488 

Shawer,  334,  343,  346 

and  Dhargam,  334 

Sheddad  ibn  Aus,  478 

Shehab-ed-din,  491 

Sherf-ed-din,  491 

Shirkoh,  343 

Sicarii,  7 

Sigard  of  Norway,  253 

Simon  Ben  Gioras,  chap.  ii. 

Sophronius,  79 

Stephanus,  5 

Stephen  of  Blois,  173,  190,  228 

,  Count  of  Perche,  325 

Sufyan  eth  Thori,  480 

Suk  el  Marifah,  470 

Sybille,  377,  379,  410,  chap.  xiv. 


Sylvester  converts  the  Jews,  66 

Tancred,  172,  197,  250 

Tell  es  Siyasiyeh,  446 

Templars,  defeat  of,  387 

Theodora  of  Constantinople,  326 

Thcudas,  4 

Thierry  of  Flanders,  295 

Thomas  (patriarch)  rebuilds  Church 
of  Sepulchre,  102 

Tiberius,  battle  of,  389,  419 

Tiberias,  Alexander,  4 

Tithe  of  Saladin,  405 

Titus  :  his  army,  20;  number  of,  21, 
22  ;  besieges  Jerusalem,  chap.  ii. 

Toghrul  Beg,  120 

Tomb  of  David,  487 

Trajan,  revolt  under,  54 

Tripoli,  251 

Truce  between  Saladin  and  Richard, 
463 

True  Cross,  Invention  of,  62  ;  dis- 
covery of  piece  of,  216 

,  loss  of,  425 

Tutush,  121 

Tyre,  271 

,  siege  of,  439 

Ventidius  Cumanus,  5,  6 
Vespasian  in  Galilee,  19  ;  taxes  the 
Jews,  54 

Walter  the  Penniless,  162 
Walter  of  Coesarea,  291 
William  of  Cerdagne,  251 
Willibald,  135 

Yaghmuri,  El,  486 
Yarmuk,  battle  of,  j6 

Zanghi,  281,  290,  294,  295,  368 
Zidugdi,  490 
Zimisces,  106,  142 
Zirayeh,  the,  466 


THE    END. 


BILLING  4  SONS,   PRINTERS,  GUILDFORD. 

S.  &  H. 


s$r 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


-1984 


MflD    1  T     36VM 


'u*S 


I  b  w 


n 


4WKJUN 

J»N  1  62009 

Form  L9-75m-7,'61(01437s4)444 


23  2008 


L  006  913  482  3 


109.9 


